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CflPXRIGHT DEPOSER 



By Susanna Cocroft 



Growth in Silence 

What to Eat and When 

The Woman Worth While 

Let's Be Healthy in Mind and Body 



Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2011 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/growthinsilenceuOOcocr 



Growth in Silence 



The Undertone of Life 



By 



Susanna Cocroft 

Author of 

"Let's Be Healthy," "The Woman Worth While," 

"What to Eat and When," etc. 



G. P. Putnam's Sons 

New York and London 

Zbc fmfcftetbocfter press 

1917 






Copyright, 1917 

BY 

SUSANNA COCROFT 



Ubc Tftnicfeerbocftcr ®veB6 t Iftew Jgorfe 



OCT -9 1917 



d»l A 4 76 5 04 



CONTENTS 




Receptivity 


PAGE 

6 


To Be, Not to Seem . 


12 


Mental and Physical Poise 


15 


Education 


28 


Happiness 


31 


Judge Not 


• 39 


The Valley Dwellers 


. 42 


Life's Undertone 


45 


The Idealist .... 


5i 


Creative Power 


. 60 


Become 


. 64 


Health 


• 75 


Healing 


. 82 


Attention 


• 89 


Mental Atmosphere . 


94 


Attraction 

... 


• 99 



111 



\ 



iv Contents 






PAGE 


Consciousness of Power . 


IOI 


Nerve Control 


104 


Growth through Giving . 


113 


Growth through Doing 


122 


Life's Harmonies . 


125 


Individual Relationship 


. 132 


The Silence Within . 


■ I3 6 


Freedom of Thought . 


146 


Ethics of the Man of Galilee . 


: 154 


Life's Pathways 


: 158 


Measure of Age 


. 165 


Life after Death 


. 169 


Naught to Fear 


. 179 


Live up to Our Noblest Ideals . 


. 182 



Growth in Silence 



Growth in Silence 



A X 7TTH what a draught of pure exhilara- 
7 * tion we open the eastern windows 
of the morning to the new day ! 

The new day! — its surface is unruffled! 
The yesterday has gone into the west — only 
the thoughts of that day which make for 
eternity have been traced upon its pages. 
The mantle of rest and of silence has tenderly 
covered it, while the night has borne it with 
silent tread, hours away! The soft night 
wind has lulled it to dreamless, lasting 
sleep. 

Leave it in peace— to-day, to-morrow are 
before us. 

With the dew of morning all vegetation 
drinks in new life, new growth; the buds fill 
the air with fragrance; the birds nigh burst 
their throats in the ecstasy of a new song. 



2 Growth in Silence 

Life is swelling, pulsing, from every crack 
and crevice. 

Mental forces adjust themselves under 
cover of the night, and thoughts, in the even- 
ing confusion, by morning are clear and un- 
ruffled, ready for the fresh beginning. Do 
not stir up the contention of yesterday — ; 
carve the future on the clear surface of to-day. 

Does some solitary one awaken downcast, 
heavy hearted, with drooping shoulders, 
clouded face, and careworn brow — a discord- 
ant note, out of harmony with the song of 
the universe? Lift chest, head, and eyes — 
fill the lungs to overflowing with pure fresh 
air. Then be passive— listen. All nature 
is glad! Let the joyous melody of the uni- 
verse lift you up! up! up! until you are 
filled with joy at the thought of being a part 
of the great soul of life. Opportunity for 
expansion, for growth, for freedom, for full- 
ness of life, is yours. 

Were your nerves in such poise that yester- 
day's conditions worried you? Did you see 
life through a cloud darkly? 



Growth in Silence 3 

To-day's horizon is clear; the clouds are 
behind — to-day is yours to carve. 

Every morning you take your life direct 
from your Source. 

To plod through life with downcast eyes, 
doing things of slight account, with mental 
forces fixed alone on the materials of life, 
means to cramp the spirit, to miss the broader 
view, the exhilaration of the deep draughts 
of air, — means failure to expand to the larger 
compass. 

When the starved heart needs nourishment, 
when things go wrong, when troubles loom 
mountain high, turn your thoughts to your 
blessings. Go into the sunshine where the 
blessings are seen more clearly. Give place 
to the beautiful, the ennobling purposes of 
life. 

Look for life's beauties. The world is full 
of the beauty of doing, of being; but some- 
times one's point of view needs lifting to a 
higher plane, that the blessings may stand 
out clearly. 

Keep mind and heart fixed on the true, 



4 Growth in Silence 

the good; they become high lights from your 
new point of view. Give to the annoying 
little things their little places — trifles are 
but bubbles — if not dwelt on they soon will 
burst in air. 

Kind thoughts dispel wrong, dispel gloom, 
and as you form the habit of looking for 
good, for beauty, your list of good thoughts 
will multiply and your heart will be fed with 
the gladness of living. 

Open the windows of the soul — then be 
silent. Listen ! — there is a message for you : 

" Behold I bring you good tidings of great 
joy, which shall be to all people"; and _ 

"Unto you is born this day a Savior, which 
is Christ the Lord." Again: 

"Peace, My peace I give unto you." 

Be silent. Listen. Let these thoughts 
impress. 

The world is the nursery of the race. It 
is an uncultivated garden prepared by an 
Infinite God for His little children. Season 
succeeds season with nourishment for frui- 
tion; kind deeds succeed kind* impulses and 



Growth in Silence 5 

hearts and lives expand and grow, while 
brooding over all is the love and the hovering 
presence of the Father. 

Nowhere in all earth's confines can one of 
the unknowing, helpless ones go beyond His 
protection or be really harmed. The con- 
fines of the enclosure are secure. In the 
consciousness of this security let us cease to 
struggle. 

He made the world and He said, "It is 
good." 

He pronounced upon it His sacred bene- 
diction. 

What a balm to troubled spirits to feel 
the good will of the Father toward Earth's 
children, to feel this "Good Witt" the 
"Peace on Earth" permeate our very being! 

What need for worry or for fear? 



Receptivity 

We are learning a new psycho- 
Receptivity i / i . 

logy — the advantage of receptivity 

over inward strife. 

''Remember that we do not have to fight, 
we do not have to struggle, we only have to 
know" 

As the windows of the morning are un- 
barred, open wide the windows of the soul 
that the sunshine, the inspiration, the love- 
light may pour in as your Creator bids you a 
cheery good-morning. He sends His greet- 
ing through the twittering birds, the breath 
of the flowers, the murmuring night wind, 
the voices of the children, the sparkling wave, 
the mountain grandeur, and the deep sea 
roar. He bids you — 

"Be still, and know that I am God." 
God your Father. 

Look within. Touch your soul depth — 
then you are at peace. 



Receptivity 7 

Before each day's contact with life begins, 
listen for the voice of stillness, calling you 
into harmony with Nature, drawing you to 
the sweet naturalness of your being. Take 
time each morning to let this quiet permeate 
and you will begin the day in poise. Peace, 
sweet peace will speak through the radi- 
ance of your countenance and through the 
quiet grace of your movement. You will 
save yourself the annoyance, the noise of 
haste. 

To yield one's self, to feel a part of all life, 
of all growth, is to give Nature a chance to 
attune body, mind and soul to the harmony 
of the universe. From this receptive atti- 
tude growth begins. This keynote fully 
vibrating the fullness of life has begun and 
little things cease to annoy; they are but 
accidentals; they do not affect the keynote 
nor the swell of the undertone. 

We are learning that to let go means to hold 
with a more potent force ; that to listen to the 
voice of the Divine melody within means 
to drop the tin-soldier trivialities. 



8 Growth in Silence 

The Divine letting go relaxes you to receive 
the inflow of power. 

In the state of repose God uses us in a more 
subtle way than when our forces are turbulent 
with too strenuous efforts. Work? Yes; 
but work with the consciousness that you are 
working in His vineyard. Know that the 
confines of the vineyard are secure. You 
have naught to fear. Everything, everyone, 
is your friend. The touch of man with man 
is food. Activity is joy. 

Struggling amid a sea of perplexities only 
exhausts. Heart and brain are stronger if 
not held tense. Relax. 

Has contact with friend displeased? 
"Agree with thine adversary quickly' ' be- 
fore the displeasure grips brain and body in 
its tension. Clear the atmosphere. Learn 
to laugh. He is still your friend if you accept 
him as such. 

Remember life is rich, beautiful; its fullness 
is yours. You are born to it — you need only 
to be happy and to know. 

You inherit purity, love, goodness. They 



Receptivity 9 

are a part of the woof of your being. You 
will find them within. They are waiting 
only to be recognized. They are life's sun- 
shine. Just as soon as you claim them as a 
part of life itself, your life, God's life, they 
will radiate sunshine to others through you. 

Flowers do not grow to perfection by 
constantly buffeting the elements. They re- 
quire sunshine, warmth, and light from with- 
out, but their nourishment is within. Your 
light and the love on which you feed are 
within yourself. Others only set your 
thoughts in vibration. Your heart is the 
garden— keep it warm, decide on the flowers 
you would grow there, and then cultivate, 
nourish them with kind, loving thoughts. 

Relax into the naturalness of your being. 
Touch bottom — be yourself — then listen — 
you will find the best, the truth within you 
pulsing for expansion, ex-pression. It is in 
the deep holy of holies of self which no one 
but you can enter. 

Life! Life is beauty, is inspiration, is 
love, is growth. It is crowding earth and 



io Growth in Silence 

heaven for standing room. It is swelling, 
expanding within you. Listen and be glad! 
Be glad because it gives you a chance to love 
and to serve and to look up at the stars. Let 
Nature in all her moods teach you how to live. 

How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank, 
Here will we sit and let the sound of music float 

into our ears. 
Soft stillness and the night become the touches 

of sweet harmony. 
See how the floor of heaven is inlaid with platins 

of bright gold. 
There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st 
But in his motion like an angel sings, 
Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubim; 
Such harmony is in immortal souls. 

William Shakespeare. 

We actually do most for others by leading 
them into harmony with self, by making 
them feel the beauties of life — and the human 
touch of it. The true being grows stronger 
in this harmony — the best within us sprouts 
and grows from this natural atmosphere. 

Stillness shows us the fullness of love, the 
consciousness of harmony. 



Receptivity n 

Personal love is perfect accord between 
two individuals and leads to the greater love, 
to Universal love — the love of all things, love 
of the universe. Personal love, to be lasting, 
must comprehend the greater, bigger love — 
love of trees, of birds, of flowers, of humanity, 
of life itself in harmony with its Source. 

When personal worship is raised to higher 
reverence and blends with the universal, then 

That better self shall live till human Time 
Shall fold its eyelids, and the human sky 
Be gathered like a scroll within the tomb, 
Unread forever. 

George Eliot. 

Let in the love of all created things, the 
Universal love, and 

The discords, quenched in meeting harmonies, 
Die in the large and charitable air. 



To Be, Not to Seem 

To be, not to seem; to distinguish 

•w°*± e, o the true from the false; to see 
Not to Seem ' 

beauty and to find inspiration in 
the simple things of life; to keep the mind 
receptive, sweet, and serene, with a spirit 
which reaches out in true helpfulness — these 
are the vibrant notes of happiness; and thus 
do we grow, thus are we of value to our friends 
and to ourselves. 

To the close student of human expression 
there is no deceiving, there can be no ap- 
pearing, for the very thought which stimu- 
lated the pretense is reflected in delicate 
tracery on face and form, in subtle movement 
and voice. Affectation is recognized as an 
effort to seem, not to be. 

Spend a little time each day in silence — 
in the depths of the billows which never break 
on the beach, listening for guidance to the 
underswell of life to know in what direction 

12 



To Be f Not to Seem 13 

it is bearing you. So shall you be borne 
strongly and steadily onward and upward 
to a vantage ground where you see life from 
the hill crest, and see yourself a part of 
Nature's underswell. 

We need to go away from our habitual 
surroundings to see our lives from a different 
vantage point. We need to go alone among 
the trees and the flowers and the birds. 
These make us to know the beauty of being 
over seeming. We cannot "seem" sur- 
rounded by Nature. 

Nothing is greater than life in its simplicity, 
shorn of its seeming. 

The society of birds and of streams, the 
comradeship of the forests, the ocean, and the 
running brook make man to know himself. 

The contact with men and mortar in 
cities overstimulates. Man becomes dazed, 
drunk with power. Nature calls him to 
the shelter of the woods for rest, for balance. 



Do I like the city, stranger? 'tisn't likely that 
I would; 



14 Growth in Silence 

'Tisn't likely that a ranger from the border ever 
could. 



Like it? No I love to wander 

Mid the vales and mountains green, 

In the borderland out yonder, 
Whar the hand o' God is seen. 

Capt. Jack Crawford. 



Mental and Physical Poise 

To meet the day, to make the Mental and 
best development in the life which Physical 
the new day heralds, to be strong 
and such complete master of self that all 
impressions made on the lives of others are 
for uplift, for gladness, for love and good- 
ness, one must have uniform development — 
must have perfect poise of mind and brain. 

We must be receptive to good impressions. 
The mental attitude with which we approach 
a subject determines the amount and char- 
acter of good or ill we carry from it. 

We are to hear a lecture by one who has 
won a world-wide reputation ; we go expectant, 
with mind, heart, and soul eager to drink in, 
and as we drink we are filled. 

Another, of whom we have heard unfavor- 
able comment, might give the same lecture, 
but in our critical mood we close our mind 

to the good, and, dwelling on flaws, which in 

15 



16 Growth in Silence 

an expectant, positive state we would not 
see, we get only a partial help. 

Perhaps one is out of physical harmony 
and someone with whom we are living sug- 
gests a certain treatment; but we are tired 
of this one's counsels, so we refuse to follow 
suggestions and we continue to suffer. A 
physician in whom we have faith suggests 
exactly the same treatment and we recover. 
Was it the treatment, or the receptive mind, 
and, as a result, the relaxed nerves? — or both? 

Our mental attitudes are often barriers to 
our best welfare and greatest happiness. 

The music is not in the singer's voice, it is 
not in the sound wave, it is in the responsive 
vibration of the ear drum and the mental 
sensation produced on the listener— it is 
in the respondent soul vibration. 

A party of tourists were being shown 
through the echoing caves of Kentucky. 
One lady, who failed to adjust herself to the 
dampness and roughness of the stones, spoke 
in disagreeable, sharp tones to her compan- 
ions and her guide. Her tone echoed and 



Mental and Physical Poise 17 

reechoed, coming back to the ears of the 
party in a few seconds with the disagreeable 
quality emphasized. Still more angry she 
again complained to her guide about the 
disagreeable sounds. 

"But, madam, these old caves will give 
you back music and beauty if you give music 
and beauty to them." 

So it is, music for music, joy for joy, love 
for love. 

Poise is balance, is equilibrium, equanimity, 
equity. It presupposes perfect physical de- 
velopment, mental balance, and spiritual 
receptivity. 

Mental strength results from a brain well 
nourished by good blood and exercised by 
variety of thoughts. If the mind dwell 
on one thing too long it tires the brain, as 
overworking one set of muscles tires the body. 
For mental balance it is as necessary to think 
on different subjects as in physical balance it is 
necessary to exercise different sets of muscles. 

Moral strength lies in the right adjustment 
of our thoughts to those about us. 



18 Growth in Silence 

There can be no true harmony of existence 
unless physical, mental, and moral forces are 
in proper balance. 

There are latent possibilities in every 
nature which become potent with new 
thoughts, new aspirations, new ideals, and we 
meet the emergencies in life with the sense 
of power within, of capability to grapple 
with difficulties and overcome them. 

But we must keep well. The world 
needs well men, well women for balance, 
strength, courage, inspiration, hope, and love. 
No matter what one's work in life, health 
is the greatest asset. 

Man is given mental forces capable of 
poise too deep for wind or wave. Reach 
down and take hold of self. 

The greatest conquest one can make is vic- 
tory over self — complete control of thoughts 
and nerves, so that we look over and beyond 
the little annoyances, preserving under the 
most trying conditions the sweet, reposeful 
serenity of silence. 

A great soul will rise through buffeting 



Mental and Physical Poise 19 

and trials to a spirit of helpfulness, of whole- 
souled heartiness in life's work; a little soul 
will rail at its hardships, embittered toward 
those who have kept shoulder to the wheel 
and, by the helpful, wholesome spirit, have 
conquered. 

So live that every friend and brother you 
bespeak in passing is stronger, better for 
the contact. 

Do you find yourself worrying over trifles 
because they affect your happiness or that 
of those dear to you? Be sure that you are 
not holding the umbrella of discontent so 
strenuously close that you restrict your 
vision. The sun may be breaking through 
the clouds, but you must look to find it. 

Hitch your chariot to a star and the 
pebbles on the earth cause slight friction. 
Little things which once annoyed become 
trifles, light as air. 

Are you self -centered? Have you no 
horizon beyond your personal environment? 
Interest yourself in some of the larger, more 
vital problems of the lives of others. Life 



20 Growth in Silence 

is so full of really big things. Expand to 
the biggest thing you can find and translate 
the impulse into action. 

We are given a temple beautiful, perfect, 
for the indwelling of a soul. To keep it 
beautiful, free, pliable, and abounding with 
native grace and force, a ready means of 
expressing and reflecting the Godhead, is a 
sacred trust. Methinks the soul's home may 
affect the soul, just as the beauty or lack of 
taste in our surroundings affects us. 

Keep your figure perfect in outline as God 
gave it so that its graceful and beautiful 
curves are not only a delight to your artistic 
sense, but they also gratify the longing for 
the beautiful in your family and your 
friends. 

Did you ever admire one woman in a crowd 
whose very attitude expressed freedom, poise, 
dignity, and power? 

I have seen women whose dignity of bear- 
ing gave them an audience wherever they 
went. 

Think of the power such women exert I 



Mental and Physical Poise 21 

Then look at the masses of women, slouchy, 
careless, and ungainly in poise and move- 
ment, with rounding shoulders, drooping 
chests, and heads, with eyes fixed on the 
ground. Let us grow upright — grow up into 
the light as do the tall trees of the forest — 
an inspiration for uplift, for freedom to all 
who behold them. 

Why is the womanly, wholesome, self- 
poised woman the exception? Why so many 
imperfect figures? Why so much ill health? 

Because we have not claimed our privileges 
and set our ideals high. 

Nothing short of perfection in health and 
figure should satisfy man or woman. 

Let us arise to our privileges. Each can 
command respect and attention through 
upright poise, through grace and freedom 
of bearing; each can educate, uplift, refine 
by her very presence. 

How beautiful life would be if each re- 
tained the beauty and grace of childhood, 
every curve and movement of the body ex- 
pressing grace and graciousness. 



22 Growthjjn Silence 

A graceful, well-poised body, symmetrical 
in curve, rhythmical in movement, reacts 
on the thought and the spirit. 

Art would be meaningless, marble and can- 
vas would be meaningless, did not thoughts 
carve themselves in muscular outline. The 
lowering brow, the sunken chest, the droop 
at the corners of the eye and the mouth, 
the upright poise, the buoyant step, each 
has its expression — they tell where lines have 
been carved deepest, where the high lights 
and the shadows lie. 

That artificial teaching, therefore, which 
works for grace or movement from without, 
expresses its own shallowness. True grace 
is graciousness and from within; but the 
surface kept free and sensitized by freedom 
of nerve and muscle, more readily reflects 
the image. 

The artist who uses the nude as a means of 
spiritual expression is educating the world 
to see it in its true light. The symmetrical 
curves, outlines, and movements of the human 
form are the most perfect expressions of art 



Mental and Physical Poise 23 

in nature, and the man or woman who is 
blind to the ideal, to the spiritual in bodily 
expression, who sees the nude in art as im- 
modest, needs the artistic sense developed — 
needs lifting out of the mere physical, needs 
to recognize that the flesh and blood is the 
means which the soul uses for expression 
on this plane. "To the good all things are 
good, to the pure all things are pure." 

The body is the work of the Divine Artist 
— all other art is but finite imitation. 

The Man of Galilee was a perfect example 
of poise — physical, mental, and spiritual. 

Artists portray him as the "Lowly Naza- 
rene," bent under the weight of his burdens. 
They paint him with shoulders drooping, 
head forward, with facial and bodily out- 
lines expressing mental depression, despond- 
ency, and submission; this attitude is a 
physical expression entirely at variance with 
his nature. 

He was a man of power, who knew his 
power. He must have stood expressing his 
poise and power. A little above the average 



24 Growth in Silence 

in size, of perfect health, of magnificent 
carriage, free movement, head up and well 
poised on square shoulders, expressing pa- 
tience, his whole bearing must have denoted 
his high purpose and his consciousness of its 
fulfillment, his completeness. 

Moving at ease among all classes of men, 
in the Sanhedrin, at the court of Pontius 
Pilate, before Herod the Great, his physical 
bearing must have expressed the ease, dignity, 
and strength of a man who had come to 
establish his kingdom in the heart of man, 
not the woebegone, despondent burden- 
bearer, as portrayed by many artists. 

Humanity is transformed by the power 
of its ideals, and the weak and pitiable con- 
ception of the Christ is a false standard for 
our model. Truly speaks the inspired 
apostle: "We shall be like him for we shall 
see him as he is." 

He knew his kingdom would be established 
— not in Jerusalem, not in the Roman Empire, 
but on earth. He never spoke with uncer- 
tainty, but as one who knew — "and I, if I 



Mental and Physical Poise 25 

be lifted up, will draw all men unto me.' 9 
Not "perhaps," but "I will." The very 
attitude "1 will" is expressed by upright 
chest, head and shoulders erect. 

He said, "I will," and the world is coming 
to him in multitudes — not all in the same 
caravan, but each according to his nature. 
There never was a time when men followed 
the standard bearer and marched so surely 
and steadfastly to victory. 

Narrow chests, facial muscles drawn to- 
wards the center, eyes drawn in, shoulders 
forward and rounding, express the self- 
centered, the narrow-minded. It is as if 
the mental veil were folded about in such a 
way as neither to allow the sunlight to flood 
the soul from without nor to allow it to ex- 
pand and to grow from within. 

The door of the soul locked, each knock 
is met with suspicion. Every man, every 
approach is deemed antagonistic until proved 
friendly. This mental poise means tense 
nerves; if habitual it means grooves worn 
in the brain, so deep that thought naturally 



26 Growth in Silence 

flows through these channels, and, as with 
wrinkles on the face, constant care in direct- 
ing the thoughts to other channels is neces- 
sary. 

The habit of drooping the back and the 
shoulders, of carrying the head forward and 
down, of keeping the eyes chained to the 
ground, instead of raised above their level 
to an equanimity, a balance, a poise above 
pebbles, expresses the plodder. It is sug- 
gestive of the struggle we make in constantly 
groveling with trivial things at our feet. It 
indicates that 

Things are in the saddle, 
And ride mankind. 

As you cultivate the habit of carrying the 
head, chest, and eyes level, note how the 
entire universe is lifted to the same plane. 
As you lift chest, head, and eyes, lift body, 
mind, and soul — then be passive, be silent, 
let God pour in His sunlight until you ex- 
pand to it. 

We see the world from our mental poise, 



Mental and Physical Poise 27 

our own viewpoint. Does it seem lonely or 
unkind? Look within. See to it that the 
heart is right. Perhaps your mental bal- 
ance needs adjusting, perhaps the circulation 
through the vital organs needs quickening, 
the lungs an air bath, or the nerve force 
may need distribution by a systematic series 
of dynamic breathing exercises, accompanied 
by exercise for mental concentration. 

Remember man's natural poise, his birth- 
right, is to meet the day with a thrill of joy 
at being alive. 

Look out — not in. 

Look up — not down. 

Lend a hand. 



Education 

Filling the mind with a certain 
Education 

number of facts, cramming it with 

a given number of subjects, is not education. 

Schools and colleges offer opportunities 
for mental as well as physical training, but 
they are not necessary to the making of a 
man. 

Knowledge means — to know. It is ap- 
plied facts. We never really know until 
we have turned facts over in our minds and 
created our own opinions. Then knowledge 
becomes education. 

Higher knowledge is, after all, but the sum 
of experiences. Without experience we know 
nothing. 

Education is of the heart, mind, and brain. 

It is opening the shutters of the windows of 

the soul, and revealing the truths of nature; 

it is the realization of one's possibilities, 

physical, mental, and spiritual. 

28 



Education 29 

Let none be discouraged that they have 
not had the opportunities for university or 
college training. Information is knocking 
at the back door with the delivery boy and 
at the front door with the postman. 

Many a young man goes through college 
with every advantage money can buy, 
while the brother who remains on the farm, 
with an attentive mind and heart, who listens 
and applies, may be the better educated of 
the two. The one has information of a 
certain kind; the other may have the capa- 
city to feel, to know, to apply. 

The mastery of so many facts, without 
the balance to apply them, is mere mental 
gymnastics to develop brain tissue. 

Education is the awakening of the desire 
to see the light and to apply the beauties 
without to the beauties within — it is vision 
power. It is man's dignity and privilege 
to think God's thoughts. 

With a fundamental knowledge of a few 
principles which open opportunities for com- 
parison, one may become educated in the 



30 Growth in Silence 

depths of the forest. Nature speaks with a 
million tongues, and he who hath ears to 
hear makes the knowledge gained a part of 
self. Christ spent forty days in the wilder- 
ness. 

Man cannot sit at his counter day after 
day and be more than a clerk. To be a 
manager he must have vision. He cannot 
get this vision except from distances. 

We need to get away from self to see our- 
selves as others see us. 

To place ourselves in life in all of its full- 
ness we must be broad-gauged men and 
women. To broaden our horizon we must 
reach out in earnest effort to expand. Then 
the laws of life will take care of the rest. 

The true spiritual mother and father 
receive their education direct from their 
Creator. They listen and apply until they 
learn the true meaning of "immaculate 
conception." 



Happiness 

The one great duty we owe to 
humanity — particularly to those 
in daily contact with us, is the cultivation of 
the habit of happiness. 

True happiness, exhilarating gladness, full- 
ness of joy, the ocean of peace, are all within. 
If you "cannot find happiness within your- 
self to-day, you will not find it to-morrow. 
It rests in your education of self — in your 
point of view. It depends on whether you 
are expecting it to come through grasping 
for things without, or whether you relax to 
let it shine from within. It is in your mental 
habit of looking on conditions about and 
illuminating these with your own sunlight. 

Why so much unhappiness? Why the 

sorrow? Perhaps it is because, in the present 

state of enlightenment, we do not recognize 

that we need not be burden bearers. The 

burden has been lifted. The truth has made 

31 



32 Growth in Silence 

us free. Why plod the valleys? Why not 
leap from hill crest to hill crest? Regenera- 
tion? We were His in the cradle; why not 
thankfully, happily His to the grave? 

Heaven is a condition within one's own 
soul, it is not a place, and happiness is not 
found by wandering from shore to shore, 
from continent to continent, with the gates 
of the heart closed. It is in your habit of 
keeping the door wide open to let out the 
flood of inner sunshine. You do not have to 
create the sunshine. It is peeking out at 
every corner. Look and you 11 feel its flood 
bursting within. 

But you must cultivate the habit of keeping 
the door wide open. A cold wind may some- 
times blow it almost shut, but stand guard 
and keep the door open to light every trav- 
eler in your radius. 

Many a one rushes to the convention hall, 
to the ball, to the seashore, to the land of 
the midnight sun, or to the regions of the 
equator, and returns, after a weary search, 
to find happiness in the song of the bird 



Happiness 33 

on his own threshold, in the heart of a rose 
in his own garden, or in the silence of his own 
inner chamber. 

The all-wise architect uses the simplest 
means to reveal Himself unto man. That 
which he has been seeking was here; it is 
here; it needs only to be recognized. 

The story is told of a man who left his 
family to journey to a far country for gold. 
He returned empty-handed, and sitting by 
the cottage fireside gave up to his gloom. 

His practical wife suggested that if he 
would dig in the garden, planting fruit and 
vegetables, the earth might yield that which 
would sell for gold. His fork struck a pot of 
buried treasure. 

Even the world has sought afar off for 
what is near at hand. 

You inherit happiness. It is your legacy — 
invest it. 

The true secret of satisfaction with life is 
in unselfish usefulness and in the habit of 
opening the mind and soul to recognition of 
the good and the beautiful. Form the habit 



34 Growth in Silence 

of expecting goodness in others and — "accord- 
ing to thy faith be it unto thee." We find 
what we seek. 

No one gets more than you unless they look 
for it harder and longer. 

Accept the happiness of to-day, instead of 
worrying for fear of unhappiness to-morrow. 
All that life holds of gladness is the joy which 
we snatch from each day as it passes. There 
is no to-morrow for joy or sorrow— it is 
to-day. In all noble relations, the moment 
is all. 

The gospel of usefulness is the uplift from 
unhappiness. It is vision power to detect 
the sunshine behind the cloud. 

When the day comes that we "wrap the 
drapery of our couches about us and lie down 
to pleasant dreams" may the monument 
erected over us be a continuation of good 
deeds. "Inasmuch as ye have done it 
unto one of the least of these my brethren, 
ye have done it unto me. " Thus do we join 
"the choir invisible" whose music is the 
gladness of the world. 



Happiness 35 

The unhappy one needs to arise to his 
privileges; there is work to do for others, there 
is the great growth and expansion within one's 
self to be realized, which comes alone from 
reaching out. Think of the privilege of doing, 
of achieving and of creating in the compan- 
ionship and with the buoyant help of all the 
great and good who have achieved before us ! 

Let us take nothing short of perfect man- 
hood and womanhood for our ideal, and let 
us reach that ideal. 

Unhappy because of environment? To 
a certain extent, yes; but the frictions of life 
but burnish man's metal, and the more try- 
ing the environment, the sweeter and the 
stronger the development of the soul which 
works out a perfect growth through the chok- 
ing weeds about it. 

There is no man-made environment too 
dense for God's sunlight to penetrate, and 
the horizon line of the impossible recedes as 
we advance. The real environment is the 
atmosphere of one's thoughts in the silence. 
It is the self aura. 



36 Growth in Silence 

It is a great man who lets go the past, 
who lets the yesterday go into the west, and 
bravely faces east for new joys, for new 
pleasure, for new duties, ready to weave 
whatever comes with that day into a crown 
at eventide. 

In the study of many books, let us not for- 
get the book of human life. In the study of 
ancient history, let us not forget that we are 
making history to-day. In the study of the 
lives of great men, let us remember the great 
men of the hour, not forgetting that there are 
men as great in our immediate circles as 
those whom occasion has helped to bring to 
prominence. 

Epictetus says: "If man is unhappy, re- 
member that his unhappiness is his own 
fault, for God has made all men to be happy. 
No one was ever yet made utterly miserable, 
excepting by himself.' ' 

Each has individual problems. But prob- 
lems may be pleasures. It depends on the 
mental poise with which we meet them. 

You mistrust that someone would injure 



Happiness 37 

you? Nothing can injure unless you let it 
do so by your thought of it. 

Someone has wronged you? Be sure that 
you do not sink into the mire of self-pity. 
There is no more self -centered, debilitating 
state of mind than that of feeling sorry for 
self. Rise out of it to understanding of and 
sympathy for others. Learn to forget self 
in active service for someone else. 

Do you suffer because you have made the 
sufferings of someone near and dear your 
own? Sympathize and understand, but if 
you let your mind and spirit sink to a level 
with his or hers, you lose the power to help, 
to uplift. Your help must lie in directing 
their vision beyond themselves. 

In our complex state of society, surrounded 
by people of varied temperaments and nerve 
forces, it takes a strong character to refrain 
from overstimulation and to relax in poise. 
But happiness does not preclude serious 
thoughtfulness. It is indicated, not by the 
meaningless smile, but by the undertone of 
love and brightness. It means the conscious- 



38 Growth in Silence 

ness of that exhilarating spring within from 
which the mental and spiritual force is con- 
stantly flowing. One must be strong to 
apply the knowledge of the never-ending sup^ 
ply of "Peace, Power, and Plenty,' ' in the 
adjustments of everyday affairs. 

Life is just a series of adjustments, and we 
may approach them with a frown or with a 
conscious privilege of opportunity for help- 
fulness and development. Happiness, like 
any virtue, grows by cultivation. 



Judge Not 

Pity the poor soul who seem- 
ingly regards it as a tribute to 
superior judgment to be able to detect faults 
in others and to bring those faults to the 
light, colored from her point of view. 

Living on the faults of others like parasites 
is poor food for the mind, lacking nourish- 
ment and strength. It fills the garden with 
weeds so there is no room for flowers. 

Criticism affects the life it feeds on only 
when the suggestion is acted on by that mind. 
The deleterious effect is on the life of the one 
who feeds on the poisonous thoughts. 

A grain of wheat will reproduce a grain of 
wheat, a thistle will reproduce a thistle, a rose 
will reproduce a rose, a beautiful thought 
will reproduce a beautiful thought. 

Then how potent for good, right, charitable 
thoughts must be, and what opportunity to 
do good by simply thinking aright ! 

39 



40 Growth in Silence 

" Judge not that ye be not judged, for with 
that measure ye mete it shall be measured 
to you again." 

"Let him who is without fault among you 
cast the first stone. " 

After all, unhappiness is the result of being 
self-centered, of being so wrapped up in 
all that pertains to our own lives that we 
have no time nor room for expansion and 
growth. The little orbit of our lives seems 
to us so important that we fear the effect of 
any new thought. The self-centered person 
lives in fear and dread of what this or that 
person may say or do. Every upward effort 
is paralyzed. 

Put self in the background and the sun 
shines forth — you have been standing in the 
darkness of your own shadow. 

Stand out from under. Walk out of self 
into the broad light of day — out of the dead 
ashes of the past into a higher and holier 
living. 

Get acquainted with your true self. Let 
go to touch the fullness of Infinite power 



Judge Not 41 

within. Let the troubles of the day pass into 
nothingness. Don't clutch them. Lay up 
courage, hope, faith for the morrow. Take 
up some constructive thought and through 
it develop your higher self. 

Sometimes the real self is so disguised 
under an assumed cloak of indifference, self- 
consciousness, coldness, and even bad temper, 
that the world does not suspect there is 
another self — a loyal, brave, and cheery some- 
one, who is really perishing for want of sun- 
light, of love and happiness. 
\ Do not hide your real self under such a 
disguise. 

Has unhappiness, selfishness, or any other 
disagreeable trait become a habit, so fixed 
that you have well-nigh forgotten that the 
other better, higher, and real self existed? 

Let us laugh more, love more, and thus 
live more. 

Develop your real self, by forgetting to 
be self-conscious. It is a Divine /or-getting, 
because we really gain and relax to grow in 
letting our lives merge into the greater power. 



The Valley Dwellers 

In human life as in the moun- 
D e u ey tain regions, there are some who 
prefer to live in the valleys of mere 
physical abundance, some on the hillside, 
and others on the mountain tops. The val- 
ley dwellers, from a worldly standpoint, often 
reap large crops. They live on the lower 
levels, eagerly grasping all within reach, and 
rankly wallowing in physical abundance. 
The atmosphere is often stifling, they miss the 
exhilaration of the refreshing breezes of the 
heights, yet the humidity, the stifling air, 
gives the physical, the worldly, a rank yield. 
They miss the beautiful sunsets, they miss 
the broader vision, and while the rank yield 
has a beauty all its own, it suggests greed 
and selfishness — rank growth bears no blos- 
soms. 

A man in the full flush of youth and power 

chanced to find a silver coin on the dusty 

42 



The Valley Dwellers 43 

road. He was so delighted with his discovery 
that he always lived in the hope that he 
would find more, and journeyed with stoop- 
ing form and downcast eyes that he might 
not miss them. When he was an old, weary, 
discouraged man, a philosopher met him and 
pointed out to him that for one petty little 
coin he had missed the beauty of the trees, 
the birds, the sun, the stars throughout life. 
He had sold his birthright "for a mess of 
pottage.' ' 

Those who climb the mountainside strug- 
gle with the efforts necessary to cultivate 
the soil, encounter many rocks, fell many 
trees, see the rain pass by them, and must 
often feel that the result is not worth the 
effort. They must be tempted to succumb 
to the force of gravity and to rush down 
into the valley, but strength comes through 
climbing. 

Never having reached heights, it is hard to 
comprehend the glory of the summit — but 
they "touch God's hand in the darkness 
and are lifted up and strengthened. " 



44 Growth in Silence 

Growth on the hillside is not so rank, not 
so luxuriant as in the valley, but it is of a 
finer quality. They have caught a glimpse 
of the heights above, their course is ever on- 
ward and upward, and they cannot retrace. 
V Tis the set of the soul decides its goal, and 
not the wind or the wave." The source of 
light is above yon hilltops. The hands of 
those on the heights are constantly beckoning 
the climber upward, picturing the warmth, 
the sunlight, and the glory, while they reach 
down strong hands to help the struggling 
ones. 

Those on the tablelands walk on level 
ground, their ways are ways of pleasantness 
and peace. They look down from the hill- 
crest on the valley of ignorance with loving, 
helpful sympathy for those who dwell there; 
they know the peace which passeth all under- 
standing and are throbbing to give it out. 
They are in perfect poise, in perfect har- 
mony. Listen ! Accept their help ! 



Life's Undertone 

When right thoughts, right mo- 
tives are recognized, they become ^ - 

° I Undertone 

a part of consciousness, and the 
battle is won; this consciousness is the touch- 
stone of your being, and all the creative 
forces in the universe of the great, good, and 
righteous men and women of all ages ally 
themselves with you. The sum of these 
forces constitutes the "choir invisible' ' which 
works with you for the achievement of every 
righteous purpose. 

Fail, with this "choir in visible' ■ singing 
you to success? You can no more fail if you 
listen to the music, if you step in tune, than 
you can walk out of step with any music 
which fills your very being with its rhythm. 

Were ears, minds, and souls so attuned 

that we could hear the exquisite harmony, the 

voices of those whose spirits have been freed, 

methinks we should be borne on the sound 

45 



46 Growth in Silence 

waves so that our feet would scarce touch the 
ground. In each heart would be a song, a 
rhapsody. 

This life, as Ohaspe terms it, is the "nest- 
ing ground of the soul, " and the choir invisi- 
ble will sometime lift us out of the nest. 

This indomitable truth — the force for good 
buoying the soul which recognizes its pre- 
sence — underlies all human action; it is the 
Divine undertone, which makes the deep, in- 
expressible melody of human consciousness. 
He who recognizes this force, who relies on 
it, ceases to worry over trifles and works with 
a more definite purpose. Sure of success, no 
time is wasted in uncertainty. From the 
hour of recognition, his life becomes a signifi- 
cant factor in real progress. Such a one ex- 
presses a quiet, happy, radiant knowledge 
of his privileges and power — in truth his 
very power means to him a glorious privilege. 
His surety gives him the magnetic presence, 
the full life. Within his atmosphere all things 
seem easy, because his buoyancy of spirit, 
his certainty of success, his magnetism, his up- 



Life's Undertone 47 

lifting power are communicated to all who 
come within his influence. His truth per- 
meates all lives about him as water permeates 
porous matter. 

Such consciousness, with judicious atten- 
tion to hygienic laws, means vibrant health, 
because his nerves are attuned, and his body 
becomes a perfect instrument for the working 
of mind and soul. 

That man is well poised, because his life 
is a pendulum, and the mainspring is the 
universal force, which can no more be wrong 
than the law which suspends the planets 
in space, or controls the movement of the 
spheres. 

He is successful. Why? It lies in the 
man. He knows himself, he goes unswerv- 
ingly onward. With his eyes fixed on the 
goal ahead, he does not see the pebbles and 
pitfalls along his career. "The fault, dear 
Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, 
that we are underlings. " 

Why worry? Why not accept the freedom? 
The gates are open to the flood of sunshine. 



48 Growth in Silence 

Stay no longer in the dark air within the 
prison walls of worry. " Lazarus, come 
forth!" 

Finite minds do not understand the laws 
of force which make for helpfulness, when a 
right thought becomes a part of consciousness; 
finite minds do not comprehend the law .which 
relates the spiritual with the physical, because 
this law is not within the scope of man's 
reason. We simply reason from its effect. 

Many there are who do not look above the 
physical, who close their minds to all which, 
with the finite eye, they cannot see, or, with 
the senses, feel. They sit in judgment 
on little things, considering the throne of 
their minds conclusive. Poor, blind humans ! 
Neither can they see the creative force of life, 
nor the law which suspends the planets, 
nor the great force of electrical power, nor of 
the transmission of messages through the 
air. Were this force of the unseen not 
demonstrated in the creation of heat, in 
motive power, and in Marconi's method of 
communication, many would not believe the 



Life f s Undertone 49 

power existed, because they could not see it. 
They do not see the great force of attraction 
between man and man or between the sexes, 
but they know it exists. 

Just so surely as this unseen physical force 
exists in the atmosphere, is there a law of 
unseen spiritual force felt and demonstrated 
in the spiritual world. 

" Verily, there are greater things in heaven 
and earth, Horatio, than are dreamed of in 
your philosophy, " and the eye is not the only 
seeing agent, the ear is not the only receptacle 
for transmission of thought. 

Man is strong or weak in degree as he 
realizes that there is a law of Truth under- 
lying all life. If he pulls with the tide, he 
is strong, buoyant, successful, because he is 
fulfilling the law. All truly great natures 
put themselves in harmony with it. 

Truth is the standard of life; justice its 
application. The spirit, the soul, or that 
intangible something which connects man 
with his Source, is the guiding power, is the 
sculptor. The mind is the chisel, the body 



50 Growth in Silence 

the clay, made soft and moldable that the 
soul may find least resistance in its expres- 
sion. 

Man was prone to call this flesh and blood 
J, and to say, "I have a soul." 

He now says, "I am a soul and a part of 
the Divine, given this material form as a 
means of communication with material forces 
while dwelling on the earth." 



The Idealist 

Do not be afraid of being called 

t The Idealist 
a soarer — better soar through 

clouds than walk through the mire — there is 

less friction with earth's pebbles. Better 

lift all life to the hill-crest than drag all 

thought to the valley. 

The man or woman who scoffs at ideals, 
who tells you he does not believe in air castles 
but prides himself in being "practical," is 
lying and does not know it. 

The real work of every human project is 
accomplished first in the invisible, in the 
thought realm. 

We live in our thoughts. We work toward 
the pictures in our minds. 

Our ideals are our castles. Some are built 

of bricks, some not even of sordid clay, but 

just mud. Others are built of mists which 

cannot be utilized as such; they must be 

condensed by adverse winds. 

51 



52 Growth in Silence 

But we all build castles and the thoughts 
which mold our characters form them brick 
by brick, story by story. The more clearly 
we visualize the more surely do we build. 

Our real life is spent in the castles. Happy 
is the one whose castles have a firm foun- 
dation on the earth. One needs contact 
with the earth for warmth and sympathy, 
needs life in the silence, contact with the 
spiritual for uplift and inspiration. Our 
bodies are in the air, only our feet are on the 
ground ; if we become sordidly bound to earth, 
we stumble. 

Keep your eyes fixed upon the ever expand- 
ing horizon; lift head and heart; there is 
better, purer air above. 

To idealize the real, the simple life, means 
merely to lift the everyday, common things 
out of the mire into the upper air, where they 
get the high lights, and where their right 
relation and true beauty are seen. 

An occasional flight to the realm of the 
abstract makes one cognizant of the principles 
governing life. It broadens our vision, 



The Idealist 53 

awakens our sympathies, makes us to see 
incidents of life in their right relation each 
to the other, and enables us to view human 
life from a vision point above it. Then all 
selfishness is seen as small. 

Note the expression carved on the faces 
of men and women who seldom look above 
the material side of life, who view each act in 
its relation to its material effect on their own 
lives and conditions, rather than on its 
relation to the lives of others. Compare 
such a face to the face of one who lives with 
his ideals, who sees the dignity and beauty of 
life as an entity, made up of little things, but 
combined into a beautiful whole. 

This is aptly illustrated by the story of the 
artist who found a child in the streets of Paris 
whose singular loveliness and childlike expres- 
sion of innocence enchanted him. 

He painted the child's portrait to repre- 
sent his ideal of purity. 

For years he sought for a model who would 
vividly enough represent the contrasting 
picture of vice. Twenty years afterwards, 



54 Growth in Silence 

he found the type he desired in a young, old 
man of vicious, cruel expression. While 
painting him for this picture, he discovered 
to his amazement that the model was the self- 
same person he had painted as his ideal for 
innocence so many years ago. 

It might take long, but we know that 
under the regenerative influence of beautiful, 
lofty, spiritual thoughts, the man could 
restore his expression of original purity and 
inspiration. 

It lies within the power of each to create, 
to a large extent, his own atmosphere and 
privileges, to live on an ideal plane, to ideal- 
ize the every day of life, to be a source of 
inspiration to those about him. One does not 
need a change of habitation to live the 
higher, simple life. It is not limited by 
locality, it depends on one's breadth and 
soul growth. 

To be true to one's higher ideals, no matter 
within what lines his life may be cast, is to 
be true to one's self, and to God. 

Better by far to fail — as the world reckons 



The Idealist 55 

it — true to one's ideals, making the most of 
one's privileges, than to achieve mere finan- 
cial success and dwarf one's soul. 

Yet financial success and the realization 
of higher ideals are by no means incompatible. 
Perseverance along the right lines, coupled 
with faith in one's work, and the right to do 
it, must inevitably bring success in any line. 
Success simply means that you sight your 
goal and work toward it. 

Lofty ideals denote high standards, a 
high degree of spirituality. Nothing less 
than attainment will satisfy the soul, for 
the ideal is the soul's own, and sometime, 
somewhere must be realized. It must be 
reached by endeavor. We are in this world 
for soul development, and the ideal is the 
inspiration to soul growth. 

In the effort to fix our ideals high, let us 
not underestimate the value of a simply 
good life. Just to be good — to keep life 
pure, free from degrading elements, to 
make it constantly helpful in little ways to 
those who are touched by it, to keep one's 



56 Growth in Silence 

spirit always sweet, to avoid all inanner 
of petty anger and irritability, is an ideal 
as noble as it is difficult to attain. 

It is the soarer, who disdains to recog- 
nize material things as they exist, who lives 
only in the mystic, and thus loses sympathy 
for human, material frailties, whom one de- 
plores. To become too etherealized lessens 
one's chances of growth intended for the 
soul's contact with life in the physical. 

While on this plane one should not disdain 
the things of earth. The physical body — the 
soul's residence — is of the earth earthly, and 
it is beautiful. While the soul remains in 
the body for growth, its frailties, its beauties, 
and its possibilities must be recognized. 

With nothing to adjust, with no human 
weakness, there would be slight advancement 
in soul growth. Obstacles have a spiritual 
significance — they are to test strength and 
gauge mentality; one grows spiritually strong 
through surmounting them. One cannot 
climb without a hill ahead. We grow strong 
through conquest. 



The Idealist 57 

All great and lasting achievements are 
the results of idealization, and the response 
of the idealist to his higher and clearer 
spiritual insight. Through this spiritual 
quality the inventor sees his ideal before he 
puts it into execution; the artist sees the 
picture he transfers to canvas; the sculptor 
sees his statue; the musician hears strains 
of celestial music, and his soul responds to 
these vibrations as the iEolian harp to the 
winds of heaven. 

The great contributions to the world's 
progress — to its educational, political, finan- 
cial, scientific, artistic, and spiritual growth — 
are those of the idealist. It is he who takes 
risks, he who uses the little, certain things of 
life as stepping stones in his pursuit of the 
higher things. It is he who achieves much, 
and leaves, as his legacy to civilization, the re- 
sult of those things which he first saw through 
the clearer, spiritual insight of idealization. 

Through the aid of abounding hopefulness 
and faith, an idealist, such as Edison, uses 
common forces in a new way. 



58 Growth in Silence 

Through an unquenchable and illimitable 
faith in his visions, coupled with indomitable 
courage, the idealist is ever ready to penetrate 
the unknown, to risk much in his journeyings, 
though he know not whither they may lead 
him. He creates his own environment — his 
people, his world, his love, his heaven. He 
meets no opposition. He steadily builds. 
These children of his imagination never 
disappoint him. It is exceedingly doubtful 
whether realization can ever bring such har- 
mony, such joy, because in realization he 
deals with other forces than his own. His 
vision is disturbed by those of others. 

It is through the clearer, spiritual insight 
of idealization that poets love, and, loving, 
find their greatest source of inspiration. 
Take the lives of Poe and Hood: Poe ideal- 
ized and dreamed of his Annabel Lee; found 
her, loved her, and lost her, still loving her 
and still idealizing her. This idealization was 
the source of his best and loftiest thoughts. 

Hood likewise idealized and dreamed of 
fair Inez; longed for her, prayed for her. He 



The Idealist 59 

went through life without her, yet in his 
idealization of her he found his greatest source 
of inspiration. To have found her might 
have meant to have lost her. In his mental 
vision he experienced the ecstasy of creation, 
and fair Inez, his love, the creature of his 
inspiration, lived. 



Creative Power 

Magnetism, influence, and power 
reative are crea £ e( j w ithin, and this very- 
creative force makes environment, 
makes the surrounding atmosphere, and 
attracts outward influences as a magnet to 
further increase the power. 

Let no man say I am not thus and so for 
lack of opportunity, "because of my environ- 
ment." Let him listen with soul, not ear, 
and he will feel the creative force within 
grow, expand, uplift. When he feels this and 
recognizes its power no environment which 
man has made can prevent the bud bursting 
into blossom. He will rise as a positive, 
growing force, sufficiently strong, either to 
change his environment or find a new one. 
The germ of ambition is well-nigh unquench- 
able. 

Success does not always mean success 

from a wordly standpoint. ' Men and women 

60 



Creative Power 61 

in palaces are dying daily, from dwarfed 
lives, from heart starvation, who would 
gladly change places with the lowliest peasant 
whose heart is fed to fullness. 

Success means consciousness of the power 
and kinship Christ felt when he said, "If 
I be lifted up I will draw all men unto 
me." 

If you have been in the whirl of life, busy 
over small things or great, in order to gain 
this conscious power you need to be alone, 
until, for a time, you can be unconscious of 
your surroundings. 

He who would insure harmony within his 
immediate circle, would radiate joy, peace, 
and quiet dignity, that others may be up- 
lifted, must go often into the silence, must live 
often with the ideal, must put self in harmony 
with the unseen forces of his nature. Then 
the surety of strength and power which such 
conscious union alone brings demands suc- 
cess as one's birthright. 

To be alone, to take a few moments of rest 
each day in the quiet of your own nature, 



62 Growth in Silence 

means to do with a purpose, when you emerge 
from the quiet. The world will never know 
the silent power growing out of the forty days 
in the wilderness. 

Realize that this power has naught to do 
with hurry. Be quiet; touch the naturalness 
of your being and fully comprehend the mean- 
ing of I AM — after realizing your power of 
the creative force, the "I will" demands 
expression. 

Every man and every woman, growing, 
expanding to their best, must feel this kinship 
of power; must feel the strong depth and 
fullness of the expansive life, which results 
from the knowledge of one's power with God 
to create, to draw unto self dynamic force, to 
create one's atmosphere and by this atmos- 
phere to wield influence and set in motion 
other forces. 

Spiritual power means creative work. 
Each is invested with varying degrees of this, 
and with power to use it for good or evil. 
This freedom of choice is a test of spiritual 
strength and morality. It is the freedom of 



Creative Power 63 

choice which makes one individual different 
from another. 

To gain magnetic, creative power every 
physical function must vibrate strong life in 
perfect soundness of every organ. The blood 
must be kept pure and strong by a free, force- 
ful circulation, that it may fully nourish 
and rebuild tissues. Nerves, heart, and 
lungs must be strong so that the physical 
power is continuously re-created from within, 
drawing as a magnet all relative forces to 
strengthen its own. 

Unless one feel this positive force within, 
he will be sapped by stronger forces without. 

Intelligence and will power must keep 
appetite and passion subservient. Thought 
as well as action must be controlled. 



Become 

Become the power you wish to 
Become , 

be. 

If I say yon can be what you will to be, 

you shake your head doubtfully — but — the 

chances are ninety-nine to one that you 

CAN. 

Simply sitting idly by and wishing won't 
do, for God helps those who help them- 
selves. "All things may come to those who 
wait," but you must work while you wait. 
You must embrace every means at your com- 
mand and reach out to some which you do 
not realize are at your command at present. 

If you will fix your ideal of health and 

power in your mind, sight the position you 

would attain in society, in the home, in the 

world's work, reach toward it, leave no right 

method unturned to gain it, and the chances 

are ninety-nine to one you will win. 

It is will and the power of reason and of 

6 4 



Become 65 

choice which makes man the master of his 
fate. 

Every quality of genius is yours to draw on. 
The supply house of music, art, and all con- 
structive, creative forces are open to you; 
you have sufficient of each within you to attract 
as much of the great supply as you wish. 

This unseen supply of creative force work- 
ing through you is what relates you to your 
Creator; you are allied eternally with the 
Divine mind because you are a part of Di- 
vinity. What you relate yourself to in con- 
sciousness, that will you manifest. 

Relate yourself to your Source ; know that 
"I and my Father are one" — and "Greater 
things than these shall ye do. " Realize your 
power. 

This power is for all. It is not allotted, or 
a limited amount fenced in or circumscribed,, 
as are this world's goods. 

Stop and think — the Divine storehouse 
of peace, power, and plenty is yours. Think 
of it! Let the richness, the fullness, the 
surety, and the peace permeate you. It is all 



66 Growth in Silence 

yours. You can draw unto yourself just as 
much as you want. 

Whatever man can adequately conceive 
of, that can he achieve. 

You have forces within yourself of which 
you little dream, because they are visible 
to you just one step at a time. Each step 
you take forward will clear for you another 
step. Your vision broadens as you climb.^ 

Within thyself some dormant seedling lies, 
Just waiting for the tillage of thy will 

To aid its growth, from which some day may 
rise 
A harvest worthy of the reaper's skill. 

Within thyself -some thought, broad as the 
skies, 
Doth strive to find expression through the 
tongue, 
Or through the hand, with which so often dies 
More talent than was ever seen or sung. 

Within thyself there lies some latent power, 
As potent as has ever come to light, 

Which but awaits the coming of the hour 

When thou shalt set it free before men's 
sight. 



Become 67 

Within thyself, however low thy state, 

Is strength to rise above its cringing grind, 

From lowliness have sprung the truly great ; 
All barriers fall before a forceful mind. 

Mary Quinlan Laughlin. 

Remember — the chances are ninety-nine to 
one that you can attain your ideal, not 
alone in physical and mental attractiveness, 
but, in the large majority of cases, in worldly 
power. Belief in self, coupled with a fixed 
ideal and every effort bent toward its accom- 
plishment, makes man master of self and 
forces about him. 

One can change not only physical outlines, 
but if taken in time, he can change health 
conditions, and the entire outlook on life 
can be altered. The outlook broadens with 
each step upward. Every conquest means 
developed capacity to control and to do. 

I have seen women despondent and for- 
lorn because of ill health, weak or overstrained 
nerves, with accompanying unhealthy 
thoughts, become so well that their faces 
fairly shone. The normal workings of their 



68 Growth in Silence 

vital organs were restored so that they 
regained health, and the broader, happier 
outlook on life made them mean more to 
themselves, to their families, and their 
friends. 

Others have so regulated the sizes and con- 
tours of their bodies that their friends did not 
recognize them. Desire, choice, and will 
were the weapons. 

Does anyone you see express your ideal? 
Then be an inspiration and a friend to that 
one by the very companionship of thoughts. 

Interest yourself in the vital things of 
life — broaden your outlook beyond the con- 
fines of four walls. Those near and dear 
have extended their influence to encompass 
the world's work. Embrace the human 
race. In your heart of hearts reach out in 
love to all humanity. 

Love in its broad sense means not only love 
of the individual but love of all created things 
- — of birds, of trees, of flowers — in fact it 
clothes all life with beauty. 

As you keep your ideal ever before you 



Become 69 

and reach out, you grow to be the vital, 
wholesome, magnetic, well-poised, attractive 
personality of your vision. 

But withal keep your poise — live within 
the physical, mental, and moral laws that you 
may have sufficient reserve for happiness 
and pleasure when the day's work is done. 

Keep your brain clear and rested so that 
you feel like doing things and so that little 
things do not annoy or seem like'big ones. 

You must be physically free so that your 
brain may serve your thought and your body 
serve your brain. 

Make your body your servant, not your 
master. 

When you form the habit of following the 
right laws of health and beauty, your body 
will do its work and you will be left free to 
develop mind and soul, untrammeled by 
thought of it. Life will look like a bright and 
beautiful thing, which will go on expanding 
and expanding in beauty and use each day. 
Your atmosphere will ex-press wholesome mag- 
netism and self -poise so that everyone you 



70 Growth in Silence 

meet is better, stronger, and stimulated for 
life's duties because of this contact with you. 

In fact, you will measure up to your ideal. 

Raise your standard of health. 

Perfect health and nothing less is your 
right. 

You say, ''Perfection is too much to ex- 
pect.' ' 

I say, No. Perfection of health, perfec- 
tion of intelligence, perfection of mind, perfec- 
tion of contour, are the natural conditions. 

Learn the laws of health and then form the 
habit of obeying them just as you obey the 
law of the land. If you learn these, harmony 
of mind and body will result just as harmony 
with the civic law. 

Are you taking your place among the 
eager, earnest, large-hearted, big-brained 
people who know? Who have measured 
their abilities and possibilities of heart and 
soul, and are using their best efforts to so 
increase their strength both of body and 
mind that they may be better fitted for the 
work to be done. 



Become 71 

For a professional life, we need perfect 
balance, mind and body aiding rather than 
hampering intelligence. 

For a business life we need keenness of ^per- 
ception, mental balance, physical poise, 
attractive appearance, and every energy 
free for direction. 

Strength lies in the balance of all forces, 
mental, moral, and physical, and however 
strong your other forces may be, unless you 
are strong physically you cannot be the power 
you should be in your home or elsewhere. 

Form the health habit. Once established 
it is as hard to break as any other habit. 

Don't wait until you get sick. A "stitch 
in time saves nine" is so true of the physical. 
No part is stronger than its weakest link, 
therefore take each physical derangement 
before it gets a fair start. 

Remember that your health rests largely 
in your hands. To retain and to regain it 
means regular exercise, correct breathing, and 
correct poise. 

Each morning should find us full of vigor, 



72 Growth in Silence 

of refreshment, a sense of readiness for the 
day's duties, a strength to meet all difficulties. 
Each setting sun should find a reserve of 
vitality for friends and family, a conscious- 
ness of a surplus in the bank of bodily vigor. 

The power is within you to express perfect 
health, perfect uprightness, perfect soul 
force, creative power, rich, abundant life, 
and perfect peace. 

The knowledge that you are a part of the 
Divine Creative storehouse gives you courage 
to start because of surety of an unending 
supply. 

We are here to express (press out) the 
essence of life within. How much of your 
real self have you brought to the surface? 
Your forces must be active — first an outflow, 
then an inflow — for growth, for ex-press-ion 
of yourself. 

You say, "Mrs. S is related to a great 

scientist or writer"-— and you immediately 
surround her with a halo of what the great 
one has accomplished — her position in society 
is established. But what has she expressed? 



Become 73 

What has her rounded life shown to the 
world of the creative force within her? If 
your thought of her allows her to shine by 
reflected light her own growth is dwarfed. 

All life, all growth, is ex-press-ion. When 
we cease to grow, to re-create the cells within 
our bodies, stagnation and death have begun. 

The trouble is that we have ourselves sized 
up by shackles of the past thoughts. We are 
circumscribed also by others' thoughts of us. 

"She was sick as a child — she has caught 
every disease within miles. " There is tyr- 
anny in holding such thoughts before the 
mind of a growing child. She relaxes to it 
instead of expanding out of each difficulty. 
Shackles are put on her mind and body. 

Have others surrounded you with such 
thoughts? You are re-building cells and 
tissues every day. You are re-creating your- 
self. There is a difference between what you 
have done and what you can do. Create new, 
sound tissue. Conceive yourself as sound, 
whole, free, and walk out and away from 
thoughts that bound you as a child. You 



74 Growth in Silence 

are now your own Creator, and your food, 
through thought and nerve direction, is 
building the pattern of self, physical, men- 
tal, and moral, which you are holding in 
mind. 

Realize again that what you can conceive, 
can conceive anew each day, yon can become. 



Health 

It is life you want — abundant, „ f .;_ 
J J t * Health 

rich, free life. Breathe it in ! 

You say you inherit "this and that. " 
Your " inheritance' ' is largely your reiterated 
thought, rebuilding atoms and molecules 
after the same pattern as in your ancestor. 
If this pattern is Nature's perfect one, let your 
thought continue to build it. If it is im- 
perfect, destroy your pattern — uproot the 
thought — exercise the physical until the 
tissues are plastic and free and then build 
more natural patterns. 

Do not forget that you inherit the greatest 
and the best tendencies of life and that 
these great and wondrous traits far out- 
number the bad. Do not forget that above 
all you inherit the tendency to grow, to 
expand, to be perfect. 

Expect wholesome, vibrant health and 

your expectant mental attitude, together 

- 75 



76 Growth in Silence 

with the physical laws you are obeying in 
exercising the vital organs and nerve centers 
daily, eating and resting properly, bring the 
chemical activities of your digestion, assimi- 
lation, and elimination into harmony. 

Do not forget you are building body cells 
every instant of life and every time you think 
inheritance of this or that state of an organ 
or tissue, your nerves directed by your 
thought are reproducing the model you have 
in mind. 

The chances are that under right sug- 
gestions you can make every cell and tissue 
of your physical being vital to do just the 
work Nature intended. 

You inherit from your Creator life, beauty, 
power, and an inherited feast, an inexhausti- 
ble feast, is spread before you every instant 
of your life. This inheritance is far more 
potent than the inheritance of an imperfect 
body. 

Every man and every woman in this age 
feels the necessity of being physically fit. So 
much is required of us to-day that we cannot 



Health 77 

afford to be hampered by inefficiency. In 
fact, we are learning to regard inefficiency as 
a disgrace, efficiency as one of the greatest 
of virtues. 

To be a wife or a husband means to be 
companion, inspiration, friend, capable of 
putting shoulder to the wheel and accom- 
plishing, through united effort, what we could 
not accomplish alone. To do this we must 
always have equal strength, we must some- 
times have strength sufficient for two. 

To be father or mother means to be an 
inspiration, a guide, a counselor, a friend, a 
companion, and a fund of love and tender- 
ness. For this a perfect physical organism 
is necessary because thought and inspiration 
must be free for guidance of those entrusted 
to their care. Discretion, balance, are needed 
for judicious use of power. One cannot 
afford to be hampered by physical ailments. 

To be a friend means to be a comrade. It 
means to understand; to know with soul. It 
means the finer understanding of the beauty 
of service. 



78 Growth in Silence 

For a business life one needs keenness of 
perception, mental balance, physical poise, 
attractive appearance and every energy 
free for direction. 

No matter in what work of life, we need 
health. 

To wield her greatest influence, woman 
must cling to that one strong weapon, attrac- 
tiveness. She must keep her figure expressing 
the art within herself. She must bring the 
beauties of outline of coloring and movement 
into her home. In fact, she must be the 
most artistic expression in the home. 

You say that you are asking for perfection 
in every phase and this is too much to expect. 
I say, No. Perfection of health, perfection 
of intelligence, perfection of mind, perfection 
of figure, are the natural conditions. If we 
have grown out of them let us find out why. 

The problem is to form the right habits of 
life. 

Perfect health demands healthy mental 
as well as physical habits and the right 
habits are as easy to form as the wrong ones. 



Health 79 

Let us form habits which assist Nature 
rather than retard her, and the important 
habits for Nature's growth are a normal 
amount of daily exercise for every organ and 
tissue of the body, alternated by complete 
rest, perfect breathing habits that the blood 
may be fully purified, and a normal amount 
of nourishing food, including water. This 
means bodily cleanliness within and without. 

Free yourself from the armor of steel — ■ 
the shield of unhealthy thoughts of "I can't. " 
Such thoughts, such armor is in disjointed 
sections which rattle and grate upon each 
other every time you move. 

Shake yourself — hear the pieces shatter to 
the ground and then step forth a free man or 
woman. You are not to-day what you were 
yesterday. You have no obligation to any- 
one to be the same. 

To-day, each day you stand forth a free 
being, answerable only to yourself, realize 
that you are a part, a spark, a portion of 
the rounded creative whole which we call 
Creator, God, Mind. Call it what you will. 



80 Growth in Silence 

Christ Jesus of Nazareth, our example, 
said, "I and my Father are one, " and then he 
turned to his disciples and said, "And greater 
things shall ye do." 

Heal thyself— keep the spiritual, the mental, 
and the physical life in harmony. Harmony 
is healing — is peace. 

Realize that there is something within you 
that is never sick. 

The mind may not be able to function 
through the brain because, being physical, the 
brain is dependent on blood and nerve condi- 
tion; it may be undernourished or surfeited 
with too much food. It may be poisoned by 
poisons in the blood. Parts of it may be 
weary because of lack of variety of thought, 
as the body may suffer from monotony of 
diet. Then the thoughts, unable to function 
through it properly, may be hampered and 
we say we are "sick at heart" — disappointed 
in getting through the right thoughts. 

If you would be well, you must keep the 
brain and the nerve cells, the physical 
avenues of thought, free and strong. 



Health 81 

Obey the physical laws of exercise, rest, 
diet, and seek the cleansing force of oxygen, 
then your brain becomes nourished, it admits 
variety of thoughts to function and all life 
is full and rich and abundant. 

The one thing above all others I would im- 
press is that the creative power is unlimited. 
The only restriction put on the supply is 
placed by man himself. Man may close 
the windows and shut out the light, he may 
shut out the air and become stifled. Physical 
force closes the door and window to physical 
force, but mental force closes the door and 
window to the growth, the inflow of light 
and air to the soul. Our thoughts erect 
barriers to growth, health, and happiness. 

TGive up. Relax. Let in the light. To 
the winds with past bondage. 

"It is not I but the power that worketh 
in me to will and to do His good pleasure." 
You cannot stop the law of force — you can 
only limit your supply by closing the win- 
dows and restricting your vision. 

6 



Healing 

_, f . The best physician is the one 

Healing y J 

who gets his patient in condition 
to heal himself. All healing really comes 
from within. Nature, the law of the Crea- 
tive force working infallibly through man, 
is a synonym for God, and God, or Nature, 
heals. Physical agencies merely assist. 

Man's disobedience of the law and his 
consequent suffering is no reflection on the 
law itself. 

Health of body is based on harmony with 
the laws of the physical; health of mind is 
harmony with the law of mental, creative 
force; health of soul, or spirit, is harmony 
with the laws of the spirit force, and the 
three laws are interrelated. 

Can we not then have perfect health if we 

know the laws governing body, mind, and 

spirit, and keep them in harmony? Me- 

thinks we not only could have health, but 

82 



Healing 83 

with perfect physical supply, and perfect 
elimination of inactive material, this auto- 
matic machine, the body, will work on per- 
petually. The urge of Nature, the Creative 
force, renews itself, and who shall say that, 
with perfect supply and elimination, per- 
petual life is not possible? 

Again I say: learn and obey the physi- 
cal laws of hygiene and the mental laws of 
health, which are thoughts of love, faith, 
happiness, truth, and the spirit force, the 
inspiration, the urge of Nature, will care 
for life's constant renewal. Remember that 
Nature, unless interrupted by a violation 
of her laws, will renew perfection of cell 
and molecule. Nature is never sick — the 
power, the strongest force within, is 
never sick. The power of health is stronger 
than disease. Health is positive — disease is 
negative. 

But you say, ''Everything dies." I say, 
"No, nothing dies. Material becomes in- 
active because no force is operative within, 
but matter is not destroyed; it simply changes 



84 Growth in Silence 

form when the 'Eternal Push,' because of 
some violation of law, leaves it." 

Man is as engrossed in mastering the things 
of the physical as a child in mastering a new 
toy. Could we not profitably spend time in 
the study of the relations of life, physical, 
mental, and spiritual? 

If you would enjoy the fullness, the rich- 
ness, the joys of life to a ripe age, give to 
the subconscious mind creative, renewing 
thoughts. Negation is inaction — inaction is 
death. Affirmation is the law of building. 
It is the constructive thought. 

Have your thoughts been negatively inert? 
Arouse them if you would arouse a sluggish 
physical organism. 

Have you been too intense? Relax and 
let Nature have her perfect way. 

Have thoughts been discordant? Then 
your body forces have been at war with each 
other. Thoughts of love, of kindness will 
harmonize them. 

Remember the conscious mind directs 
your conscious activities and registers your 



Healing 85 

thoughts on the subconscious, which is a store- 
house of past thoughts. Prevent thoughts 
of old conditions, if unhealthy, from register- 
ing themselves on your subconscious mind, if 
you would not reproduce their pattern in the 
physical; for life renews, creates every instant 
according to the pattern held in mind, just as 
the builder constructs to the architect's plan. 
, The subconscious regulates the chemical 
activities of digestion, elimination, assimila- 
tion, the circulation, and all of those so-called 
automatic activities of the body which go on 
without our conscious thought. 

Many regain health by simply asserting 
their wills. They become tired of being 
constantly sick and assert their power of 
mind, the will force, to control the tone of the 
new cells being built by controlling their 
thoughts and their activities. Then the 
new body being made daily is made from the 
new pattern in mind. 

The consciousness of the power of your 
Nature (the Divine power in you) to heal 
you is the surest medicine, 



86 Growth in Silence 

If you are sick in body you are sick in 
mind — if sick in mind you are sick in body. 
Decide which force within shall dominate. 

Could we but realize that we really are a 
part of the Divine creative whole, barring 
accidents, or barring the dominance of other 
wills stronger than our own, we would be 
well, would be perfect in health, power, and 
beauty. 

What matters man-made creeds — what 
matters this cult or that, so long as man 
realizes that the life within is the inflow or 
the throughfiow of Creative life! 

Could we realize this perfection of the 
power within, which is creating, renewing 
every instant of time, with what assurance, 
with what surety, what power would we speak ! 
We would use this power as one having au- 
thority. Life would know no crippled, lame, 
nor blind. What ease, what comfort, what 
harmony, what freedom for growth in the 
thought! 

"Take hold of life and it shall be your joy 
and crown eternally. " This knowledge gives 



Healing 87 

you inspiration. Inspiration keeps the forces 
keyed in tune. 

Religion stirs the emotions; and, if accom- 
panied with constructive thoughts of health, 
cures are often wrought which had been 
deemed impossible, as the new impressions 
are deeply made on the subconscious mind. 
Old impressions, old patterns for the auto- 
matic working of the body, are destroyed 
under the stirring of emotions and new pat- 
terns of life and health are substituted. 

Faith also stirs the emotions and emotion 
sensitizes the subconscious, so that thoughts 
of faith and trust more clearly and more 
forcefully impress themselves on the subcon- 
scious mind. Thus thoughts of health have 
a more potent effect when accompanied 
by faith in the one who suggests them. 
Cultivate the faith to be well. Cultivate 
thoughts of love and harmony. Think con- 
structively. 

Remember that your subconscious mind 
believes what you think — it registers more 
correctly than any camera. 



88 Growth in Silence 



Each day let us be able to say, ' I am better 
to-day." 

Do you say, "I am not sick" ?— No need 
to be sick to be better. You have to-day 
all that a radiant, abundant life may mean 
to you, plus the experience and the richness 
of your life yesterday. Surely each new day 
should find you better. Your thought to-day 
is in advance of yesterday. 

The body you are building every instant is 
a new body, not an old one. Build it after 
your new ideal. 



Attention 

Life consists of the things to > 

Attention 

which we give attention. What a 
beautiful, rich experience we can make by 
using that most wonderful of all attributes 
of mind, the power of choice! 

Since we choose the things to which we 
give attention, are not our lives of our own 
making? What a privilege! What beauty, 
what power, what peace, what joy, what 
richness may we weave into our pattern, 
what an inspiration to watch the beauty of 
our design and round it into a perfect whole ! 
We may choose the best and give attention 
to the ugly patterns, to the negative condi- 
tions, only to quicken them to life and beauty. 

This power of the choice of thought defines 
the individual, differentiates one from an- 
other, decides one's character. 

The majority of the human race drifts, 

reflecting the condition with which others 

.89 



go Growth in Silence 

surround them. Someone has said only one 
in twenty thousand really directs his thoughts. 

Is it possibly this mental drifting that 
makes us subject to life's inertia diseases- 
discontent, illness, poverty, and crime? We 
drift downward; we construct upward. 

Someone says, "We cannot continuously 
strive; life thus becomes exhausting." But 
some to be healed need relaxation, not strife. 
We struggle too much. 

We need to know that we have all power 
within. No one gives power to us. They 
simply coax it out — teach us self-expression. 
Consciousness of power gives peace and 
poise. 

But how Nature simplifies ! The selection 
of thought even becomes a habit and the full- 
ness of life comes from the selection of its 
beauties. Tensity of action, tensity of brain 
force often defeats our purpose. We need 
to relax and cultivate more the habit of 
Divine letting. 

Let there be health; let there be joy; let the 
happiness come forth. 



Attention 91 

Health is sometimes a forgetting, a clear- 
ing the mind for new aspects. Death is 
sometimes necessary for this mental clear- 
ness that one may start anew, may be free 
from the bondage of old traditions. 

After the great plague of London, the 
city was swept by one of the greatest 
fires of history. It seemed like a terrible, 
destroying force but it proved the great- 
est of blessings, burning out the plague 
spots to make room for new clean, sanitary 
buildings. 

Life is supremely friendly ; health is friendly. 
The atmosphere of Nature is a loving one. 
If it seems not so, somewhere are we inter- 
fering. Pain is a friendly warning of this 
interference with Nature's law. It is a call 
to remove the cause, as a child might call to 
you to remove something which had fallen 
on it. You would not simply pour on a lini- 
ment to heal the bruise; you would first 
remove its cause. Let us cultivate the at- 
titude of vital agreement. 

Vibrate higher if you would attract higher 



92 Growth in Silence 

sensations. Be true to life in its highest con- 
ception. By this I do not mean to live un- 
conscious of the physical. The body and 
materials which maintain it are just as won- 
derful, just as beautiful, as the mind which 
they mirror — they are an expression of that 
mind. 

Our thoughts are contagious. Quarantine 
negation, inertia, despondency, and discour- 
agement. Spread the germs of truth and 
beauty and love and joy. 

Effort to lift others to the positive plane of 
thought by the suggestion of helpful thought, 
acts, or example, is the lasting fabric of which 
you build. 

A man who had struggled to lift himself to 
the heights that filled his desire, dreamed one 
night that he was trying strenuously to reach 
up for an unseen hand to help him but in 
vain. He heard a cry from below and reached 
down to help. He had to lift up his other 
hand to balance himself, and in so doing 
grasped the helping hand he so Jong had 
sought. 



Attention 93 

Interest in the vital, positive, creative 
things of life is its color spots. 
Joy gives the high lights. 
Love mellows and blends the colors. 



Mental Atmosphere 

Does the day seem gray and the 
Atmosphere perspective limited? Does it rain? 
Is life commonplace to-day? 

A life of continuous sunshine is monoto- 
nous, overstimulating. Nature gives us con- 
tinuous change; let us enjoy the variety — 
her joys, her moods. 

Rainy days are for relaxation and rest. 
If we do not relax to enjoy them the fault is 
not in the day but in our mental mists. We 
can see it in its beauty and accept its bless- 
ing. It all depends on our thought of it. 

All days are good. We have lived too 
long slaves to fear of changes in atmospheric 
conditions — afraid of rain, of snow, of a 
draught, of cold, of heat. Rain is the prepa- 
ration for to-morrow's growth. 

Relax to the beauty of the quiet. 

L. H. Bailey makes us to see "The Rainy 
Day" in its happy atmosphere: 

94 



Mental Atmosphere 95 

The soft, gray rain comes slowly down, 
Settling the mists on marshes brown, 
Closing the world on wood and hill, 
Drifting the fog down vale and rill ; 
The weed-stalks bend with pearly drops, 
The grasses hang their misty tops, 
The clean leaves drip with shiny spheres 
And fence-rails run with pleasant tears. 

Away with care ! I walk to-day 
In meadows wet and forests gray; — 
'Neath heavy trees with branches low, 
'Cross splashy fields where wild things grow, 
Past shining reeds in knee-deep tarns, 
By soaking crops and black-wet barns, 
On mossy stones in dripping nooks, 
Up raining pools and brimming brooks 
With waterfalls and cascadills 
Fed by the new-born grassy rills ; — 
And then circle home across the lots 
Thru all the soft and watery spots. 

Away with care ! I walk to-day 
In meadows wet and forests gray. x 

Happiness or gloom depend on your point 

of view. 

The conscious bracing of one's physical 

1 From Wind and Weather, published by Charles Scrib- 
ner's Sons. 



96 Growth in Silence 

forces to resist changes in moisture, in tem- 
perature, exercises and awakens both body 
and mind. One can either joyously brace 
oneself knowing that the exercise of faculties 
develops them or cringe within self in a men- 
tal attitude of abuse, leaving body and mind 
a prey to the elements. 

Do not be guilty of forming the habit of 
meeting changes or adjustments with dis- 
pleasure. Keep heart and mind open, in 
poise, and reserve judgment and decision for 
the slower action of reason. 

Let us learn to convert every natural force 
of life to our upbuilding — let us see its use 
and cheerfully appropriate it to our growth 
and happiness. 

Are little ones under your care forming the 
habit of meeting thoughts, not in accord with 
their plans, with a frown? Such habit will 
close the door to many an hour of pleasure 
and profit in future years. 

Teach them that to meet a thought means 
to approach it — not to immediately put up a 
barrier. Cultivate receptivity and friendli- 



Mental Atmosphere 97 

ness. Know that all life is friendly and 
beckons us to enjoy its moods and fancies. 

Truly the mental atmosphere of those near 
and dear affects our lives more than physical 
things, and in this effect " thoughts are 
things' ' more potent than material. 
, One may strike us with a physical blow 
and the physical recuperation is easier to 
recover from than the mental affront. 

One's mental attitude can create joy for 
dullness, stimulation for grayness, optimism 
for depression — and your thoughts which 
make your atmosphere are yours to com- 
mand. 

Cultivate the atmosphere of agreement. 
When you seriously disagree, express your 
opinion only after deliberation. Prom the 
atmosphere of harmony one emerges with 
organized forces potent in directness and 
power 

The gray days, the every-days of life are 
the rest periods in which Nature lays up re- 
serve for deeper, fuller fruition. 

Let Love and Trust and Faith and Har- 



98 Growth in Silence 

mony permeate their quiet; these are fertile 
soil for germination of new ideals. 

We should never lose sight of the fact that 
we can call up the thoughts which make for 
harmony and love at will; we can choose our 
thoughts, can make our lives. 

One's atmosphere, one's environment is 
colored from the light within. No gloom so 
dense that a loving, kindly, cheerful presence 
will not light the fires and bring color and 
life. 

Because someone has said or done some- 
thing to displease is no reason why you should 
put your system in an abnormal condition. 
Frowning uses your physical mechanism in 
an abnormal way. What have you done to 
please? 

Constructively build and by your own sun- 
shine and love give comfort, and displeasure 
melts into harmony. Shoulder more than 
your sh&re of responsibility for discord. Be 
big and broad and noble and true, and re- 
member that Love mellows all. 



Attraction 

The difference in man's power is 
the difference in the force he has acion 

claimed for himself. 

Like attracts like, metal attracts metal, 
water attracts water, love attracts love. 

You naturally attract to you those who 
think along similar lines. Power attracts 
power. 

Do not hesitate to associate with great 
minds whose thoughts are similar to yours. 
You hold yourself aloof, thinking they are 
higher in the social scale. Your very simi- 
larity of thought makes you their kin. 

Did it ever occur to you that the man on 
the pinnacle of power or of social eminence 
may be lonely just because others have the 
fear of intrusion? There are few on the 
pinnacle — reach up — the dwellers there need 
companionship. 

One who has climbed by his own efforts 

99 



ioo Growth in Silence 

has opened heart and mind to broader visions 
and he knows the steps — he recognizes the 
kinship of vision. Give him your hand, let 
him feel the human touch. 



Consciousness of Power 

Consciousness of power does not 

mean egotism. It means egoism, Conscious- 
ness of 
rejoicing that you are a part of the Poweu 

abundant supply of limitless riches. 

Egotism means a rejoicing in the "I am 
better than thou" feeling. Egotism is shut- 
ting of the gate to progress; egoism is open- 
ing the gate to growth. 

Consciousness of the power that lies in 
you is knowledge that you are just one pattern 
in the fabric of life and that you are the in- 
strument for the demonstration of spiritual 
and mental force. 

Knowing that it is the Divine force in you 
that really accomplishes, gives you the power 
to speak as one having authority. You have 
the one authority. 

Your very affirmation of power draws that 
power to you as like attracts like. 

Doubt sets up uncertain vibrations, fear 

IOI 



102 Growth in Silence 

restricts vibrations, love, optimism, courage 
are ex-pressed in rhythm — ex-pression is 
limitless. These are the vibrant notes 
of health, these are the vibrant notes of 
happiness, and they are tuned to the 
same key — Health, Happiness, Love, and 
Courage. 

They are yours just as you open heart and 
mind and soul to their outflow* You must 
get the outflow before you can make room for 
more. 

Did I say you are a spark of Divinity? — ■ 
No. Not a spark. You are all Divinity — 
body, mind, soul. You believe this? Then 
this knowledge gives you power. 

Why hesitate to undertake an enterprise if 
you keep the power constantly pressing out 
toward your goal, expressing the image in 
your mind? The only thing that keeps you 
from realization will be your failure to con- 
ceive your mental image. But even the 
fragments piece themselves together as you 
attract them by your purpose. 

Do not hesitate to step forth. Become a 



Consciousness of Power 103 

power for happiness — open the window to 
other minds. 

We all journey to the same light but we go 
by different paths. Perhaps you can light 
the path. Love is your torch. 



Nerve Control 

Know that your nerves control 
Control your body. The brain cells direct 
your nerves and your thoughts 
direct your brain cells. 

Your thoughts are mind in motion. 
Therefore that intangible something, mind in 
motion — thoughts — sets your body forces to 
work. They stimulate or retard digestion, 
assimilation, and elimination. They stimu- 
late the chemical activities of the body or 
retard them. They incite chemical actions 
which liberate poisons or they direct normal 
action. 

A horse cannot do as it wills if the cart, 
which ordinarily runs so smoothly as seem- 
ingly to be a part of him, is out of order; one 
part will not move in harmony with another 
part. The purpose of the animal is thwarted 
• — his efforts must be redirected. 

If one's digestive system is out of order or 

104 



Nerve Control 105 

for any reason the body is not properly 
nourished, the entire body, including brain 
cells and nerve fibers, is undernourished, and 
the thoughts are hampered. 

Body, mind, and brain are so interwoven 
that the perfect health of the one depends on 
the normal tone of the others. Our mind is 
influenced by the body infirmity. We may 
seemingly ignore body or soul, but the law of 
Nature ignores neither. 

Morose, unhappy, dfo-agreeable thoughts 
incite one character of chemical activity and 
build or retard the body which every in- 
stant of life is tearing down and rebuilding 
tissue. 

Fear so paralyzes the nerves that the blood 
cannot flow through the capillaries and the 
cheeks grow pale. The skin lining every 
cavity of the body becomes just as pale — just 
as undernourished. The tissues are held so 
tightly that the lining of the digestive tract 
cannot secrete its juices and the food does not 
properly digest. 

Worry is fear — fear of some consequence to 



106 Growth in Silence 

self or to those we love. It is paralyzing; 
it impoverishes body, mind, and soul. 

The shape of the tissues of the body 
changes with the thought; one character of 
thought builds a physical organism of a cer- 
tain nature. We know this. For instance, 
as a result of worry and disagreeable thoughts 
a blood test shows an acid condition. If 
unhappy thoughts are long continued, this 
acidity expresses itself on the surface of the 
body in pimples or a sallow skin. 

Every bad thought or every wrong repeated 
which sets up thoughts of jealousy, abuse, 
etc., is as a dose of poison, for evil thoughts 
instigate chemical activities which form 
poisons within the body of the one who 
thinks them. 

Then unload your poisonous thoughts on 
another, discuss disagreeable topics, repeat 
slander, abuse, or any evil thought to another, 
only if you would set up malign chemical 
activities which poison your system. If the 
other thinks of them, her body becomes 
poisoned also. 



Nerve Control 107 

Never repeat evil. The habit breeds con- 
tagion. Rid yourself of the habit by the 
realization that as a man, a woman, you are 
a constructive, creative power for good. If 
you must get rid of disagreeable thoughts, 
under cover of the night teil them to your 
Creator alone. The love which passeth all 
understanding will be yours for the asking 
and such love leaves no room for discord. 
This love will permeate your heart and mind 
with the peace of twilight. Alone with your 
Creator — your Source — your Father — you 
will sense the brooding power of peace which 
the angels proclaimed, as, hovering over the 
earth, they spread their brooding wings over 
all and pronounced the sacred benediction, 
4 'Peace on earth, good will to men." It is 
for you personally. 

Have you been worried? The past is past. 
Let it slip from you as a cloak from your 
shoulders and then Stand Forth. The pres- 
ent only is yours — the future is what you 
make it. 

Rise out of the dead ashes of past thoughts 



108 Growth in Silence 

into a higher, holier living. Shake yourself 
free of the gray dust of discouragement and 
despondency; grow out and shine forth a 
being of cheer and hopefulness. 

Ah! could we but cast off the thought that 
others can harm us unless we let them do so 
by making their thoughts ours. " Others' p 
are a part of the same great creative force as 
ourselves. Therein lies the brotherhood of 
man. 

It matters not whether placed under this 
sun or yond, this clime or that, all are a part 
of the same creative force. 

Let the radiance from your face call forth 
the radiance from every friend you meet. 
Let the cheerful nerve force shake off the 
clinging waste and poison and build clean, 
pure, wholesome flesh instigated by cheerful 
thoughts. Strong nerve force keeps the 
body free from poisons and the strong fibers 
of flesh shake off their impurities. 

The motion of laughter is better than the 
motion of an electric vibrator. 

Do you say, "How can I laugh when I feel 



Nerve Control 109 

so mean?" Practice it; the very effort will 
help you to shake yourself free. Better that 
laughter be instigated by your thought, but 
the very physical act of smiling frees the 
nerve extremities and the muscles. 

Oh, that we might sing about our work, 
sing about our play, give vent to emotions in 
song ! 

A smile at one end of the nerves instigates 
a smile at the other end. The vibration of 
laughter about the diaphragm and heart re- 
leases mental tension. The physical move- 
ment has its reflex vibration on brain and 
spine centers, and you soon feel like laughing. 
Cultivate the sensation. If it is difficult, it 
is time to begin to form the habit. We 
should laugh and sing more. Don't let the 
victrola do all of your singing. 

It is said that the German soldiers sang 
during the march, sang in the hospitals, sang 
on the operating table, and the generals said, 
"Our men cannot fail so long as they sing." 
They kept the bands playing songs that the 
men might respond in song. 



no Growth in Silence 

Do not stop to think whether or not you 
feel like singing. No soldier, if he stopped 
to sound every depth of emotion and think 
of loved ones at home, and the chances of 
never seeing home again, would sing. 

Every man, every woman, large natured 
enough to smile and to laugh, adds joy to the 
world and finds a surpassing growth within 
self. I do not mean that you should smile 
while calling yourself a martyr — I mean the 
smile instigated by direction of your thoughts 
to cheerful themes. 

Smile because it is your privilege, your joy. 
Smile because you have hoarded up a store- 
house of joy. Look for it and store up a little 
more each day. Vibrate joyous sensations 
within. 

Let happy thoughts adjust your nerve force 
the last thing before sleep. 

So take joy home with you 

And let her live and grow in that great heart of 

yours. 
Then will she come 
And oft will sing to you 



Nerve Control in 

When thou art walking 

In the shadows, 

Aye or weeding in the sacred hours of dawn. 

It is a comely fashion to be glad, 

Joy is the grace we say to God. 

Jean Ingelow. 

Lift head and chest and eyes and see the 
angels brooding with white spread wings, 
hovering, ever ready to reward you, to enfold 
you in a mantle of peace. It is for you. 
There is a garment for each of us and it is 
lined with love and interlined with good will. 

Let go the thought that life is pushing 
you — that duties crowd so thick and fast 
that you are not mistress of your time. 
You are mistress. You are enslaved only 
to habit. 

Analyze your life and your duties. Con- 
structively plan your time. Let go the 
things of slight account to make place for 
bigger, broader things which are building your 
character. 

"Keep thy heart with all diligence, for 
out of it are the issues of life." The atmos- 



ii2 Growth in Silence 

phere of a heart full of good will, of peace, 
puts the nerves into a positive state for the 
free flow of health and vitality. It is as A if 
the forces of mind and body were opened for 
the fullness of Power and Plenty to permeate 
and to control. It is this positive, active 
exhilaration, this growth, which reacts on 
the mind and body and makes life worth 
while. 

The positive mental poise is the health 
saver. It takes strong will-power and a 
fixed habit of looking on the bright side, of 
looking for good, to build up a badly impaired 
physical condition, but it is done every day — 
each day many a crown is won. Many a 
man becomes master of self and ruler indeed. 



Growth through Giving 

In positive gladness let us meet 

life and scatter its bounties abun- Growth 

through 

dantly. They are free. Giving 

What is education, what is knowl- 
edge, what is spiritual development, what is 
gladness, what is joy, but so much capital 
to spend — but an exhaustless storehouse from 
which to draw? Give out — our hands were 
made to open as well as to close. "It is 
more blessed to give than to receive," for 
in the giving we are growing. 

Remember the parable of the ten talents, 
that in proportion as you give shall your 
store be multiplied a hundredfold. The 
giving does not refer to money. Give of self 
— "ye have greater gifts than gold." 

One never expands the real inner self — 
never gains soul growth, never feels oneself 
really worth while unless one gives of the self. 
The gift of money or goods means little, 

8 113 



ii4 Growth in Silence 

unless accompanied with the heart; then 
giving helps the giver more than the receiver, 

"He that would save his life must lose 
it." In the very giving — in the willingness 
to surrender self — one finds his life — a new 
birth. 

Thought awakened is life renewed. With 
our souls and minds dead, closed to new 
impressions, how can we grow — expand? 
And, be it remembered, without growth no 
life can exist. 

Man is a temple of the Most High through 
which the Divine power and life is expressed. 
He would radiate His light, His peace, His 
joy through you. Don't shut in the light. 
Open the door. 

As individuals and as a nation we must 
progress, work, live, love — love, live, work. 

It has been truly said that "however 
defective in other respects human nature 
may be, all human endeavor must finally be 
measured by the principle of altruism, and 
must stand or fall by the measure in which 
it inspires and uplifts humanity." Thought 



Growth through Giving 115 

must 'be ever ready to receive the message of 
love for all human life, for the happy useful 
life comprehends humanity. 

So open the windows of your soul to every 
pure, good, and uplifting thought that comes 
to you. You will gain in knowledge, in 
health, and in happiness. 

Call to mind the great men and women 
who have seemed to the world worth while. 
Their lives have been given to service for 
others. No life is worth while if the daily 
service is for self alone — is self-centered. 

We help, not by weak pity and sympathy, 
but by comprehension and knowledge of an- 
other's needs. We uplift by courage — mental, 
moral, and physical. Pity weakens, com- 
prehending love and kindness uplift and 
strengthen. 

Do you find a friend in need? — Point the 
way. Help by lifting the spirit — -give her 
confidence in herself — give her a purpose in 
life — comfort by spreading over her a mantle 
of love. Teach her that happiness, true and 
comprehending, can come to her in its full- 



n6 Growth in Silence 

w ness only through making the world better 
by her presence. 

The woman who spends her life merely in 
shopping and wearing the things she buys, 
flitting between shop, dressmaker, luncheon, 
reception, or dinner, fritters life away around 
the narrow center of self. She finds that 
center shrivel and shrivel, daily narrowing 
to disappointment. She grows tired of self, 
and of friends, because she does not grow from 
within. Life seems tawdry, she grows critical 
and pessimistic. 

The day comes when she realizes that the 
world has progressed without her, that 
others are occupying the places of real use. 
Such women ease their consciences by saying 
they are keeping a home for their husbands; 
they mean keeping the house and the furni- 
ture — the husband's home is his life, his love. 
When each day's effort is summed up, what 
have many women done but cater to self? 

The husband, with kindness and courtesy, 
insists that he is contented, but how much 
more satisfied and buoyed is he when conscious 



Growth through Giving 117 

that his helpmate is really doing something 
which counts for life; he needs inspiration, 
needs to feel about him the atmosphere 
of growth, of living, the atmosphere of a 
broadening life. 

The high realms of wifehood and mother- 
hood are calling loudly for women with 
newer ideals, ideals which lead the march of 
progress; we need women trained for their 
high duties in perfecting the race. Man is 
inspired by her march of progress. 

To be a housekeeper is not enough. To be 
a homekeepev one needs health and rested 
nerves — needs to keep self attractive. 

Are you the best wife, the best sister, the 
best mother, daughter or friend it is possible 
for you to be, or are you in a rut and merely 
plodding? Then step out. Ruts limit ac- 
tivity, growth ; they spell death. 

Are you unhappy? Then are you circling 
round and round the small orbit of self? 
The centripetal motion will so tighten that 
it will bind the physical. Unwind, give 
out, and happiness results just as surely 



n8 Growth in Silence 

as the unfolding bud develops color and 
beauty. 

Selfishness tightens the soul; generosity, 
optimism, helpfulness expand it. 

Jeanne d'Arc stands before the world a 
personification of Courage, instigated by the 
noble inspiration to free her people from 
bondage. 

Frances Willard gave her life to lifting 
man from the degradation of drink. Thou- 
sands of noble men and women are working 
in this service to-day. 

All life is compensation and recompense. 
The difference in the quality of pay depends 
on the motive behind the effort. The giving 
of self is paid by growth within, by the 
expansion of the inner life; the giving of 
time for gold is paid in gold. 

The power to grow is the strongest force 
in all organic matter. Development is the 
unfailing law of Nature; it is progress, and 
the best results of this law come from per- 
sonal effort and self-control. 

This and that experience may seem hard; 



Growth through Giving 119 

we bemoan our lot; but the only way out 
of it is through it. There can be no stand- 
ing still; we either contract and narrow, 
making room for stronger forces, or we 
expand and grow in our constant efforts 
to overcome. The mere step in going 
through to the goal beyond brings into play 
unused powers and ends in an enlarged 
capacity and a knowledge of that capacity. 

This knowledge is a new foundation stone. 

The errors and perplexities which go to the 
making of experience have their uses. By 
perplexity and grief the untried soul masters 
perplexity and grief, and stores digested 
power for future conquest. 

The man who rises to a just, frank, and 
true knowledge of his own powers and ca- 
pabilities is half way to his goal. Battles are 
often won before they are fought. 

Savonarola would, under different circum- 
stances, undoubtedly have been a good 
husband, a tender father, a man unknown to 
history ; but misfortune came to visit him, to 
crush his heart, and to impart that marked 



120 Growth in Silence 

melancholy which characterizes a soul of 
grief, and the grief which circled his head 
with a crown of thorns wreathed it also with a 
crown of immortality. 

"We must earn the right to rule self, must 
ascend to the superb heights where Love, 
Faith, Justice, and Good reign and radiate 
their purity and life-giving essence. The 
being must be bathed to cleanliness in a pure 
element. 

"Belief in God is the uplifting power, the 
ladder by which we scale the heights, and it 
imparts a blessing in happiness, in a spiritual 
spring of joy. " 

It is easy to be content, to remain at a 
standstill, to make no effort to reach out 
beyond easy environment, but it is stag- 
nation. The soul must be the master; cir- 
cumstances are but its stepping stones. 

Progress: Man's distinctive mark alone, 
Not God's and not the beast's. 
God is. They are. Man partly is 
And wholly hopes to be. 



Growth through Giving 121 

No judgment, no decision, no attitude 
toward life can be final, for these are human 
attributes and therefore always tentative, 
open to changes as our experiences broaden 
and as new light comes from growth and 
striving. Pity the man who thinks in all 
things as he thought last year. 

Do not criticize a man for having changed 
his ideas. Every great teacher outgrows 
his first theory. The leader who holds to one 
idea presents nothing for you to follow. The 
very word " follow " means "to progress." 

Life is a moving picture, changing while 
one contemplates. If one sleep, he loses the 
thread of the story. 

Emerson says: "The things we now esteem 
fixed will one day detach themselves from our 
experiences, like ripe fruit, and fall. The 
soul looketh steadily forward, creating a 
world before her, leaving worlds behind 
her. " The vision is ahead. 

Yet while we remain open to light, we 
should not drift rudderless, tossed about by 
this wave or that. Believe in something. 



Growth through Doing 

Life seems really worth while 

Growth when one is doing things worth 

through 

Doing while. It is cold and selfish when 

one is frittering away time on 

things small and selfish. 

One's possibilities do not develop unless 
exercised. Thought translated into action 
becomes a positive force. 

Virtues, like every product of life, must be 
nurtured for growth. Love must be nour- 
ished by thoughts of love, of kindness; by 
doing the act. 

Many, through experiences, have devel- 
oped their capabilities to an extent that 
they would not have deemed possible a 
few weeks previous, simply by thinking and 
then doing what had been thought. 

If right thoughts do not come voluntarily, 
call them up. Use will-power to associate 

122 



Growth through Doing 123 

with people and things which suggest them. 
No one is responsible for your thoughts 
but yourself. 

If others suggest wrong ideas, separate 
yourself in mind or body by definitely direct- 
ing both mental and physical activities 
along other lines. If unhealthy, unhappy 
thoughts assert themselves from your sub- 
conscious mind, use your conscious mind to 
call up pleasant ones. 

Life is too full and broad and big for one 
to burrow in the mire of despondency or self- 
centered unhappiness. 

Let each take this thought unto self — 
you are capable of breadths and depths 
of expansion, of usefulness, of mental and 
spiritual power, of happiness, far beyond 
your present horizon. Each time you act, 
take a step higher up the ladder; you 
broaden your horizon, you see larger 
fields. 

Each year that records no accomplishment 
is one step downward, gradually narrowing 
the horizon. 



124 Growth in Silence 

Aristotle says, "We acquire the virtues by 
doing the acts. We become builders by 
building, and so by doing right acts we 
become righteous." 



Life's Harmonies 

Life's ecstasy comes in the very 

Life's 
joy of life itself; it comes in merely H annonies 

being glad of life, " because it gives 

us a chance to love, and to serve, and to look 

up at the stars" — to listen with soul, not ear 

— "in a word, to let the spiritual, unconscious 

and unbidden, grow up through the common." 

With mind in poise and soul attuned, 
listen to "stars and birds, to babes and 
sages, with open heart/ ' Each morning 
give a cup of cold water to some thirsty one, 
each evening lead some wanderer out of 
the darkness and the storm. By love and 
kindness bring heaven deep within his heart — 
so deep that he cannot fail to recognize it as 
heaven. 

God did not fashion man in His likeness, 

He did not breathe into him the breath of 

life, He did not create a delicate instrument 

of infinite susceptibility, without tuning its 

125 



126 Growth in Silence 

strings in harmony with Himself. The mas- 
ter Artist gives the keynote and the soul 
responds as the strings of the harp to a har- 
monic chord. 

The little one who came in from the garden, 
flushed and happy, one bright morning, and 
in response to her mother's inquiry as to her 
whereabouts, said, "Mamma, I'se been help- 
ing God train up the morning-glories, " ex- 
pressed a great truth. 

The children keep the morning-glories 
blossoming fresh every day and with their 
baby fingers train the tendrils of our hearts 
up to meet the fullness of light, and life — 
object lessons in sunshine, in gladness, in joy. 

Life's harmonies for woman are: 

Love, respect, and reverence of husband, 
child, parent, or friend; 

Appreciation of loved ones — their heart 
values ; 

Sweetness of those dependent on her — it 
may be the baby shoe, the exemplification of 
dependence — in this dependence she realizes 
her usefulness ; 



Life's Harmonies 127 

Remembrance of the home atmosphere of 
peace in the silence of twilight; 

The Christ life — the Christ spirit — the 
joyous giving. 

In the heart of one mother, who knew 
she was soon to pass to the beyond, lin- 
gered with growing sweetness the expres- 
sion of her little daughter, who months 
previous looked at her with wondering 
admiration as she dressed her hair tastily 
and put on a particularly becoming gown : 

"Mamma, you look just like an angel!" 

She hoped that this vision ol mother 
would make a lasting impression on the 
mind of the child, and, in the coming years, 
would "allure to brighter worlds and lead 
the way." 

Life is a beautiful journey, mid fields 
and pastures green, — beside still waters. 
There are rough places in the road, but, 
if you take time for rest in life's cozy nooks, 
you will not stumble. There are flowers here 
and there along the way; sometimes there are 
briars and brambles, but the firm step of 



128 Growth in Silence 

purpose crushes them underfoot; there is 
cheerful companionship, there is plenty, there 
is beauty, and there is love. 

Quiet, steady nerves, coupled with serene 
good cheer and the optimism of sweetness, 
mean peace, respect, and reverence for the 
rights and opinions of others. The dignity 
of a strong soul never permits small disagree- 
ments or petty bickerings. 

When respect is gone, discord begins. But 
cultivate a deep respect for the best in every 
human being. Put the best in you in tune 
with the best in everyone whom you are 
inclined to criticize. 

Thoughts of harmony bring it near, until 
it reigns supreme. 

Nature's best works are never noisy— they 
are too deep for sound or foam. 

That woman is the ideal wife, the ideal 
mother, the ideal homemaker, the harbinger 
of peace, who goes often into her inner si- 
lence and emerges anon with depths of sweet- 
ness and grace to cheer away all trouble as it 
presents itself at the door of her loved ones. 



Life's Harmonies 129 

Love, harmony, and good will emanate 
from this peace within; discords, clouded 
brows, are smoothed, and countenances 
brightened by the reflection from her 
own. 

She feels the touch of Divinity and emerges 
in harmony with self, her thoughts colored 
with kindness and good cheer. 

Call this force with which we commune, 
this "undertone" of our beings, God, spirit, 
or call it by any name given by this science 
or that "ology," each knows that there is 
within a spark which we call self, distinguish- 
ing the individual and] which never changes 
— a spark never depressed, ever the same- 
elevating, uplifting, buoyant. It is your 
higher self dwelling in the silence of your 
being. 

To be great, is to be simply true, and she 
whose purpose and impulse is to be loyal to 
her best self, to be genuine, realizes that the 
great forces of life are serene and deep; that 
real power is in silent moments. 

The voices of the night, the whisperings of 



130 Growth in Silence 

the forest, the noiseless bursting of the buds, 
all seemingly understand the spiritual forces 
in man. Each plant, and bird, and tree, and 
flower, in unassuming integrity, living its own 
life in simple dignity, leaves man free to be 
grandly himself, to develop an unswerving 
strength, which enables him to withstand 
the bufferings of human contact. 

Man toils and sweats for worldly prestige, 
but he comes back to Nature for peace, and 
power, and plenty. 

She who looks for true grace within self, 
within friend and foe; who seeks real beauty 
and truth in God's handiwork — not* alone in 
human life, but in the bird, the droning bee, 
the busy ant, the simple but majestic dignity 
of the leafy tree, the coloring of the flowers, 
the patient winding homeward of the kine 
at milking time — with the peaceful look of 
deserved rest — acquires a mental calm, a still, 
deep force, which is woman's charm, radiating 
strength, and inspiration. 

Wives, sisters, mothers, whose duties lie 
in making homes, study life's radiance; the 



Life's Harmonies 131 

force within self, which never changes; the 
radiance of soul with which you meet and 
commune, when you go into the silence of 
your inner chamber. 



Individual Relationship 

Life is an expression of power 

Individual • £ .-♦.-- . 

Relationship anc * f° rm > an d ea °h individual is an 

entity — a kingdom, with complete 
temporal power over self and material 
creation. 

Deep in the inner consciousness of the 
individual, is a smoldering spark that is his 
true self — not the domineering, clayey self, 
the personality that we recognize as "I" — 
but a something higher, nobler — his super- 
self, as it were. And it is in this tiny invisible 
self that the germ of progress lies. The 
super-self is virilely latent, but when a breath 
fans it into flame, only the purest fire arises; 
that which is sincere and ennobling, and con- 
stitutes true progress. It is a constructive 
flame, it does not destroy, but replaces. It is 
the constant champion of truth and under- 
standing, and in its battles with blind ig- 
norance overturns it and rules in its stead. 

132 



Individual Relationship 133 

One man aroused to a consciousness of his 
super-self is a power. He may lead a nation 
to awakening. Emerson says when a think- 
ing man is born let the nation beware. 

If the individual advances, the nation 
advances; if the individual retrogresses, the 
nation retrogresses. 

The privilege of civilization is ours — yours 
and mine and every man's. Shall we let it 
fall to be trampled into the mire? Shall 
we shirk the duty that is ours, and by so 
doing, lower the standard of the community, 
the nation, the race, of which we are a part? 

No, a thousand times. 

Self-respect is essential to happiness, and 
what becomes of self-respect when essential 
duties are not done? Duties that are not 
only philanthropic, but bring untold riches 
to our separate selves in reflecting the thing 
that we have sought — the super-self. 

Can't you feel that you are an individual, 
a force, a personality, that might be put to 
great uses? 

To be your strongest self you must stand 



134 Growth in Silence 

like Pompey's pillar, "conspicuous by one's 
self and single in integrity/ ■ 

A perfect equanimity is required to adjust 
the individual rulers and their dominions, each 
to the other, yet to preserve the integrity, 
liberty, and freedom of each. 

A perfect physical body, a well-poised, 
well-developed mind, and a soul in tune 
with the Infinite, constitute the human 
trinity. The possibilities of development 
within this trinity are illimitable. A body, 
sound in every vital function; supple, free, 
and buoyant in movement; plastic for 
reflection, for ready expression of every 
shade of thought; plastic as the paint with 
which the artist portrays his ideal on canvas, 
or the clay from which the sculptor molds 
his ideal into his model, expresses grace, 
freedom, and pliability, a perfect physical 
home. A mind in perfect adjustment, con- 
scious of complete mastery over self, and 
dominion, tempered with mercy, over mate- 
rial and brute forces, receptive and ready for 
expansion and growth, expresses the Divine 



Individual Relationship 135 

power which sways the physical. A spirit 
vibrating in tune with the Infinite, swaying 
and wielding subtle spirit forces, receiving 
and giving impulse as communicated by the 
Creator through the avenues of mind and 
soul, shows the personality, the ego. 

A quickened spirit, a perfect physical ex- 
pression, a receptive soul — what a power is 
there! What a privilege, what a delight to 
develop the trinity! — Ah! the possibilities of 
life must bid us pause! 



The Silence Within 

Wholesome men and women 
ence +y 
Within 



xe there are with sweet, happy faces, 



soulful with the peace within, 
whose very presences radiate love, and good 
cheer, whose serene, calm depths attract 
as a magnet, whose atmospheres whisper 
of the dignity of being, instead of doing. 

To be cheerful, bright, tender, and help- 
ful in one's sphere of contact is all that is 
required of us. To let no influence go out 
from self that is not helpful, is the secret 
of a happy life. To be sure of this result, 
one must establish the habit of daily com- 
munion with one's inner, better self — must 
be sure one is true to the best self, not 
drifting. 

Woman must learn that, to be a wife, a 
mother, a homekeeper, a factor in educa- 
tion, in church, and in society, she needs, 

at least once a day, to retire "into the 

136 



The Silence Within 137 

inner chamber and to shut the door"; to 
listen to the sweet and holy music in the 
silence of her own life, audible only to herself 
and to her Maker. "The melody shall be 
reawakened, the strings shall be retuned, 
the brush of the Divine Artist will retouch 
the panorama of her life with a roseate hue, 
will give distinctiveness to the perspective, 
and will make the footpaths through the 
dark places plain." As she gazes on the 
picture she is led gently back to the present, 
and takes up life's duties surrounded by a 
halo of light; an atmosphere of peace, love, 
and harmony pervades her. * 

The little daily margin in the routine 
of life for the stillness and leisure of growth 
— for the development from within — is a 
time saver, it saves the waste of hurry and of 
noise. 

The business, the professional man will 
also find power and courage in a few quiet 
moments each day. 

Marcus Aurelius says: "It is within thy 
power whenever thou shalt choose to rest 



138 Growth in Silence 

within thyself/ 1 but to be good company 
our minds must be well stored, must be 
filled with pure, helpful thoughts. 

In the man or woman of strength and force 
we recognize a depth which we cannot f athom, 
a something in reserve better than we have 
been able to touch. It is expressed in a quiet 
dignity which puts all at ease. 

It is the quiet hour of tfie home life, the 
silent hour of the fireside, which educates, 
which cultivates, which touches the chords 
of harmony. 

It is the silence of the "inner chamber " 
which touches the deep forces of the soul and 
bids them flow forth. It is from this force of the 
silence, this calm, sure serenity that one radi- 
ates the beauty of life, that one has a vantage 
ground on which to stand and to accomplish. 

Each in the deepest recesses of being is 
essentially alone. 

I walk down the valley of silence — 
Down the dim, noiseless valley alone! 

And I hear not the fall of a footstep 
Around me, save God's and my own, 



The Silence Within 139 

And the hush of my heart is as holy 
As hovers where angels have flown! 
• ••••• • 

In the hush of the valley of silence 
I dream all the songs that I sing, 

And the music floats down the dim valley 
Till each finds a word for a wing, 

That to hearts, like the dove of the deluge, 
A message of peace they may bring. 

But far on the deep there are billows 
That never shall break on the beach; 

And I have heard songs in the silence 
That never shall float into speech, 

And I have had dreams in the valley 
Too lofty for language to reach. 

And I have seen thoughts in the valley — 
Ah, me, how my spirit was stirred! 

And they wear holy veils on their faces, 
Their footsteps can scarcely be heard. 

They pass through the valley like virgins 
Too pure for the touch of a word. 

Do you ask me the place of the valley, 
Ye hearts that are harrowed by care? 

It lieth afar between mountains, 
And God and His angels are there, 

And one is the dark mount of sorrow, 
And one the bright mountain of prayer. 

Father Ryan, 



140 Growth in Silence 

Emerson well says : " We descend to meet* " 
We drop to such trivialities, we let go the 
beautiful chords of life, when we discourse 
with our friends because we submerge the 
over-soul, the super-self. 

The whole world speaks and writes and 
thinks in silence on a higher plane than it acts. 

It is the soul's response in the silence 
which knows. A few minutes of silent soul 
communion often adjusts one atmosphere to 
another and makes us to know our friend 
better than hours of conversation. We never 
really enjoy him until we are at home with 
him in silence. 

Would that in our busy world we might 
take more time for the Angelus, so that as 
the great bell rings at the sunset hour we 
may hear the deep and individual message 
of God spoken to each human heart. Would 
that once a day we might unveil the reverence 
of our being so that this bell might speak 
to each man's soul in tones of solemnity, 
bidding him relax his toil, let go his hold 
on duties which man has imposed, and with 



The Silence Within 141 

uncovered head, reverently listen to the 
message of "Peace on earth, good will toward 
men. " The very uncovering of the head, the 
reverent attitude recognizes the message: 
"Be still and know that I am God. " 
* What an education, what a rest, what a 
humanizing impulse, what a soul growth 
would result, if at each sunset hour the world 
would stand with uncovered head in naked 
truth, in silent communion, each soul alone 
with his Father, with his God. The disturb- 
ing thoughts, the turbulent waters of the 
earth would be at rest, problems which vex 
minds, small and great, would solve them- 
selves.' Man would be brought to a real- 
ization of his own depths, and of his own 
strength. 

That soul is great which, in the midst of a 
crowd, can be alone, yet not alone, for he will 
realize the sweet companionship and friend- 
ship of the inner self — that spiritual self 
which knows the strength, the depth, the 
rugged serenity of the forty days in the wilder- 
ness — breathing and emanating the atmos- 



142 Growth in Silence 

phere of the silent, stalwart breath of the 
forest, of the mountain and of the sea. 

The man who does not feel the strength, 
the uplift of the Divine, in silent, soulful 
communion with Nature, has not awakened 
to the possibilities within himself. 

He who falls into erring ways, does so 
because his mind and soul are dwarfed. He 
has not been awakened to possibilities. It 
may be that the great truths of life have 
been put to him in a narrower gauge than 
his nature calls for, and instead of thinking 
them out for himself, he closes his mind to 
the greater truth, because he does not like 
the garb in which it is presented. Such an 
one needs more of the society of God's 
"out of doors, " instead of men. He needs 
his own thoughts adjusted under cover of 
the clear, blue sky. 

Someone has said, "I love the society of 
trees, and of flowers; they are dignity in gentle 
repose. They leave me free. They make no 
claim upon me to entertain or be entertained. 
Not one of them thrusts himself upon me 



The Silence Within 143 

in bustling, insignificant, personal impor- 
tance. Not one of them constrains me to 
an ostentatious homage. They do not pay 
or claim court. They are grandly themselves 
and they permit me to be grandly myself. 
This silence is fruitful and life expansive. 
They let me rest within the pleasant natural- 
ness of mine own being. In the harmony 
of their surrounding quiet, my soul goes out 
to them in such nearness of contact, that it 
can almost hear how they grow — almost 
see the secret by which they appropriate 
their perfect coloring and dainty grace. Let 
me remain much in their presence and receive 
their silent teaching. " 

The great soul listens, and applies. 

Dwellers in cities control and manipulate 
large enterprises; they solve large problems of 
man's forming. This temporal, civic power 
shows the trend of man's mind to develop, to 
expand, to do. The very pleasure of having 
is in the satisfaction of doing — many a bubble 
long striven for, bursts, or becomes as an old 
toy, when once within the grasp. 



144 Growth in Silence 

All men to be at their best must either 
recognize an all-powerful force working with 
them in their city lives, or they must go 
periodically into the silent, mighty forces 
of the forest, must "put their ears against 
the earth and listen to the movement of the 
ground swell, " must realize the indomitable 
expansion and growth in all nature, then 
the vantage point from which they see all life 
will be regained, and problems obscure in 
the confusion of mental clouds will become 
plain, 

John Ruskin says: "To watch the corn 
grow, or the blossoms set; to draw hard 
breath over plow, shovel, or spade, to read, 
to think, to love, to pray, are the things 
which make men happy. " 

For men, like the grain of the corn-field, grow 

small in the huddled crowd, 
And weak for the breath of spaces where a soul 

may speak aloud; 
For hills, like stairways to heaven, shaming the 

level track, 
And sick with the clang of the pavements and 

the marts of the trafficking pack. 



The Silence Within 145 

Greatness is born of greatness, and breadth of a 

breadth profound; 
The old Antasan fable of strength renewed from 

the ground 
Was a human truth for the ages; since the hour 

of the Eden-birth 
That man among men was strongest who stood 

with his feet on the earth. 

Sharlot Mabridth Hall. 
10 



Freedom 
of Thought 



Freedom of Thought 

Any experience makes for pro- 
gress, for growth which gives us a 
distinct view of ourselves, stim- 
ulates to individual thought- One ought 
never to care so much for the intellectual 
conclusion of to-day as for the broader view 
which to-morrow may reveal. The chief 
thing to avoid is stagnation. 

Be ready every day to learn something 
new. 

God forbid that we think to-day as we 
thought yesterday. Life is progress. We 
either expand and develop, or we retrograde 
and give place to others. It is not possible 
to stand still physically, mentally, or spiritu- 
ally. 

Do not chain yourself to the past. You 

have walked out of it. You awaken every 

morning a free human being with all the 

storehouse of life to draw from. Worry? 

146 



Freedom of Thought 147 

Over what? Yesterday has gone. To-day 
the whole storehouse of creative force is 
yours to draw upon, and the knowledge of 
its limitless supply gives you the conscious- 
ness of power and of plenty. 

One's conclusion of this year will not be 
the decision of last. All life is growth — "To 
stand still you must run like sixty. " 

Emerson says: "With consistency, oh fool, 
a great soul has simply nothing to do. " 

The strong man shakes himself free from 
meshes which once bound him, as a young 
horse tosses his mane in delightful freedom 
and independence. 

Spiritual evolution ever tends to freedom, 
to fullness of life and self-mastery — a joyous- 
ness in being the free-born child of a King. 

Growth comes with a complete change 
from daily thought; when one ventures out- 
side of prescribed limits and dares to think on 
unwonted themes. 

No environment is so sacred, no occupation 
so worthy, that one should not disengage 
himself from it for a season, either to return 



148 Growth in Silence 

with new life, greater freedom, and clearer 
vision, or not at all. 

The power to accomplish our best is out- 
side the human province until we learn that 
everything that occurs is in the fulfillment of 
an ever-moving purpose. 

Beliefs, customs, habits should be the 
means to the great end, freedom, and never 
master of the soul. 

Freedom is individual harmony, not absorp- 
tion, and we are free in so far as we have 
freed the powers of thought, the powers of 
acting and living from our own point of view. 

The thread which shall lead us out of the 
labyrinth of ignorance into the broad light of 
day, we alone can find. We must expand 
to the light as the individual flower creeps up 
from out the mold and unfolds its springtime 
beauty. 

Permanent progress results as the soul un- 
derstands itself ; each step into untried fields, 
taken with confidence and in a receptive at- 
titude, brings- light and fuller knowledge. 

Man should allow no one to do his think- 



Freedom of Thought 149 

ing for him, should accept no one's ideas until 
handled by his thought and thus made his 
own. Ideas must be worked out from his 
own consciousness to be a part of him. 

Guard yourself against prejudice. Minds 
may become so hedged about by conven- 
tions and biased, narrow thoughts, that they 
cannot expand; they travel in narrow grooves. 
Did anyone question Frances Willard's abil- 
ity, high spiritual attainment, or singleness 
of purpose in discharging her privileges and 
duty to mankind? She saw the occasion 
and the occasion developed the woman. A 
great force made itself felt through her; yet 
one narrow mind went so far as to say to the 
writer: 

"I thought Chicago women believed Fran- 
ces Willard a Christian woman?" 

I replied, " I believe the world regarded her 
as a Christian. While we are proud of her as 
a citizen we know that her life, her influence, 
belong to the world. " 

"Well, she was not a Christian for she did 
not believe the Bible. " 



150 Growth in Silence 

"I do not know her interpretation of all 
parts of the Bible, but the vital point is 
that she lived its principles. " 

"She cannot believe one part of the Bible 
without believing it all. She cannot be part 
Christian without being wholly one. Why 
did she order her body to be cremated when 
the Bible distinctly says that the 'body shall 
be buried in the grave'? What will she do 
at the resurrection day?" 

"If the Lord wants her physical body, can 
He not resurrect it from her ashes as well as 
her dust?" 

" But that is not the question. She did not 
believe the whole of the Bible. She dis- 
obeyed the express command of the Lord, 
hence she was not a Christian. " 

This decision in his mind was final. Any 
attempt to change his belief would result in 
strengthening the battlements. His trend 
of thought was confined to narrow borders. 
Suggestion in such cases must come so subtly 
that he thinks the thought original with 
himself. 



Freedom of Thought 151 

* The Bible is interpreted by each, according 
to his light, breadth, and experience. 

Hell fire and eternal damnation, which 
have been vividly pictured to some of us, was 
once held up by parents and teachers as the 
punishment of a child who dared question its 
interpretation. 

We were told we must believe such and such 
interpretation or after death we burned in 
pits of literal fire; the spirits were freed 
from all touch with material, except the 
terrible, literal, material flame which con- 
sumed eternally. As a result of this and 
other interpretations the churches lost power, 
and many are wandering rudderless, yet 
earnestly reaching for an anchorage. 

How many really, honestly believed in 
literal hell fire after death, because they had 
done something which a group of men told 
them they must not do, is a question. The re- 
sult of this training was not & love for the 
Bible, which contains the greatest truths 
of life, but a fear and horror of the dreadful 
pictures of the hereafter — an interpretation 



152 Growth in Silence 

contradictory to every natural, God-given 
instinct. Certainly the young turned from 
this doctrine, so contrary to love, the main- 
spring of life. 

Freed from the awful fear of death, we now 
turn to the Bible and search for the message 
it holds for each of us. Wondrous love, and 
faith, and trust, are for all. Read it in a 
receptive attitude and, 

"Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall 
make you free." 

John viii., 32. 

The mind must be in a receptive attitude 
to admit the spirit impress, whether it be in a 
church, in a corn field, in the business mart, 
or in the home. The blessing comes direct 
from God; the minister merely gives the 
suggestion for man's thought. 

Any agency which gives to you the right 
suggestion, which puts you in harmony with 
the Universal Love, is a minister, whether it 
be a running brook, a barefoot boy, a man on 
the gallows, or your own child. 



Freedom of Thought 153 

If the pastor's personality does not please, 
remember it is his message you are there to 
receive, that he is doing his best in in- 
terpretation and suggestion. If you are 
receptive, you help him to be a yielding in- 
strument and thus enable him to give of the 
real truth more freely. Your atmosphere of 
harmony strengthens his power. 

Do not think of the church as your religion; 
it merely calls you to ' 'think on these things. " 
Sect is not religion. Religion is inborn — sect 
is a man-made classification according to 
individual interpretation of Biblical truths. 

We work in church organizations under a 
man-made code of rules, that, by united 
efforts, we may have broader opportunities 
for usefulness. This is desirable, but every 
man's, every woman's soul is broader than a 
creed. 



Ethics of the Man of Galilee 

Ethics of ^ e h ave shorn religion of much 
the Man of of its mysticism by refusing to 
take our thoughts second hand. 
We have sifted what to us has seemed the 
wheat from the chaff and woven the best 
thoughts with our own. We have sat upon 
the grass in God's churchyard, where we 
have cleared away much of the mist of creed 
which obscured our vision. We have seen 
Jesus as the human, the carpenter, moving 
among us as man. Then we have seen 
Christ the spiritual man, embodied and 
controlling the human, and, as the basic 
principle of all, we have seen God. 

We will soon fill our churches with leaders 
who voice our composite thoughts, for each 
individual must see for himself — not through 
another's eyes — and the world never saw 
Christ as the way-shower, the road builder, 
more clearly than it sees him to-day. He 

i54 



Ethics of the Man of Galilee 155 

must be seen in the composite national life 
if a nation is to stand. 

Christ, show us the way! 

Through prayer the spirit within comes 
in touch with the spirit of the Christ and 
through this spiritual contact must come our 
peace and light. 

Our platform must be Justice, Humanity, 
Helpfulness, Faith, Love. " Faith can re- 
move mountains. " 

What do we mean by a Christian nation 
except that it be based on the teachings 
of Christ ? How comes the religion of so large 
a part of the world to be centered around 
the teachings of a carpenter who lived in a 
little town called Nazareth nearly two thou- 
sand years ago? Not because of the man, 
but because of the Power within this man 
who said: "And I, if I be lifted up from the 
earth, will draw all men unto me!" One 
man, as we are prone to look upon man as 
a physical being, drawing all men through 
the ages? No, the Power within the man. 
The Power which he came to explain to us. 



156 Growth in Silence 

Hundreds of prophets have arisen but almost 
the world follows only this man. 

Men, women, nations, awake ! The power 
that has drawn all nations to the Christian 
religion, through the influence of one man, is 
not asleep. It is as potent, as forceful to-day 
as two thousand years ago. Listen! It is 
working in the undertone of every man who 
stands for Right, for Justice, for Love, for 
Humanity. That power is back of every 
man who is big enough to recognize the 
Divine power in man. 

The ethics of Christ are working in the 
hearts of men. 

The principle underlying human life spells 
Christianity. 

May the undertone of life, the power of the 
undertow, engulf misguided leaders, grapple, 
hold them, and give them pause. God 
pity and give them peace ! Give them the 
desire for helpfulness that uplifts — an un- 
derstanding heart — a depth of love un- 
fathomable. 

The undertone of life shall bring Christ 



Ethics of the Man of Galilee 157 

to the surface, glorified in a peace the world 
has never known, and we shall see each 
other as we really are — glorified in Love. 
So let it be. 



Life's Pathways 

, All paths, when followed with 

Pathways courage and sincerity, lead to the 
same Divine source. Few, if any, 
go ultimately astray. There are no lost 
sheep. They may have strayed for a time 
among the briars and the brambles, but they 
are in the fold; the confines of this earthly 
pasturage are secure, fenced in by man's in- 
stinctive inclination to good and right — the 
God in him. 

Some are through the valleys, some are 
in the glare of the footlights, others in the 
radiance of the sun, in the broil and heat of 
turmoil, while many walk within the cool 
shade, the shelter of another strong enough 
to shield from trouble, yet we are traveling 
to the same goal, each by his own roadway. 

All roads that lead to God are good. 

What matters it, your faith or mine? 

Both center at the goal divine 
Of Love's eternal Brotherhood. 
158 



Life* s Pathways 159 

The kindly life in house or street, 

The life of prayer and mystic rite, 

The student's search for truth and light — 

These paths at one great Junction meet. 

What matters that one found his Christ 

In rising sun or burning fire? 

If faith within him did not tire, 
His longing for the truth sufficed. 

A thousand creeds have come and gone, 

But what is that to you or me ? 

Creeds are but branches of a tree — 
The root of Love lives on and on. 

Though branch by branch proves withered wood, 
The root is warm with precious wine. 
Then keep your faith and leave me mine — 

All roads that lead to God are good. 

Ella Wheeler Wilcox. 

To-day, freed from many of the old inter- 
pretations, from the cruel bondage of fear, 
we are growing physically stronger, mentally 
and spiritually more free. Like released 
birds we shake off our fetters and fly up to 
the light of heaven's blue. As we look about 
where next to go, we could run for very 



160 Growth In Silence 

gladness, for each path shows rainbows of 
light at every turn. 

Let us build our own inner temples of wor- 
ship, our inner shrines where we commune 
with our Creator and receive suggestions 
within our own souls, then happiness and 
sunshine will flood us. Verily, /'the place 
whereon thou standest is holy ground." But 
let us not forget the inspiration of com- 
munion together in the churches. 

The birds were made to sing, the children 
to laugh and play, and man to be happy, well, 
useful, and free. 

One seldom unreservedly accepts the views 
of another. 

Do not be disappointed if one you love does 
not unreservedly accept your theories; he 
may take only such parts as shed light on 
his problems. Each soul is an entity, build- 
ing for himself a tower, accepting only such 
grains of truth as mix with his mortar, only 
such bricks as fit into his niches. If your 
thoughts do not entirely supply the need, he 
may, from your material and his own, make 



Life's Pathways 161 

another composition. You may be helping 
more than you know. 

Rarely does man reverse his viewpoint ; he 
is more apt to turn it about to get this light 
and that. If, however, he finds that he has 
builded upon the sands, as does a man when 
he learns that he has pinned his faith to a 
woman, untrue to self and to him, he must 
shatter the superstructure, the very under- 
pinning, and begin anew. Rarely does he 
use the courage and faith to do this, especially 
if he is nearing middle life, but there is no 
age to the spirit, and no limit to its inspira- 
tion to new ideals. 

Unhappy woman, who is at heart untrue 
to womankind! She may, by accident or 
impulse, be faithless to the man and he can 
forgive, but, if she be faithless to self, wrong 
at the core, his very ideal of womanhood 
crumbles. 

To kill an ideal is a sacrilege. 

To advance towards freedom, we must 

first have the ideal and the desire to reach 

it. Desire is a prayer and every step leads 
ii 



1 62 Growth in Silence 

us nearer. You will not lack human com- 
panionship on the way. Do not think there 
are none near who can help. Perhaps not 
physically near, but the post, the railways 
are great levelers of strata. There are 
always the friends you can call to you by 
the printed page; there is no distance that 
cannot be spanned by printed messengers, j 

Time was when our fore parents, sepa- 
rated from friends, with no literature, no 
railroads, no touch of human sympathy, 
were truly isolated, but that day has passed. 
Friends' messages are now in our public 
libraries, on our bookshelves, on our tables, 
and in each daily and weekly post. Every 
writer whose purpose is to help, to uplift, 
to enlighten, feels a fellowship with all who 
desire to grow, feels the commingling of 
universal aspiration on its upward flight. 

One is never alone who is accompanied 
by noble thoughts and an earnest search 
for truth. The friends on your book-shelves, 
through the breadth of spaces, are clasping 
your hand and marching in step with you. 



Life's Pathways 163 

Thoughts and interests in common make 
comrades. I know a man who always 
speaks of Herbert Spencer as his closest 
friend. He was and is his comrade in 
thought; though he never saw him in the 
flesh, he is nearer and dearer than his immedi- 
ate companions. 

Every man, every slave, felt that Abra- 
ham Lincoln was his brother. Though miles 
away, he was his brother, he is his brother. 
He sent his thoughts, his spiritual force and 
each spirit responded in unison. No great 
force like this is ever lost. 

A law of selection draws us toward those 
who are thinking along the same lines; this 
tends toward the positive growth. If our 
purposes are strong, opposition, by develop- 
ment of resistive thought and purpose, but 
strengthens us. 

If, in your present environment, you feel 
hampered in development, send out a thought, 
a desire, a prayer for your enlightenment, and 
then be watchful. Let your steadfast pur- 
pose be to seize the moral, material, and 



164 Growth in Silence 

spiritual opportunities that may come; your 
very desire will release the forces that are 
cramping you. 

What may I do in order to advance yet 
further toward the goal of rounded, wise, 
beautiful self-expression? 

Give — give of self in as many avenues as 
open from your immediate pathway; each 
path shows your visions beckoning to ybu 
from beyond. 



Measure of Age 

High ideals and lofty sentiments, 

with mind and heart alert for new Me f A ure 

of Age 

light, fresh thoughts to weave into 
new pictures, keep the heart and brain and 
body young and strong. There is no senility 
in progress. 

We do not "grow old." 

Age comes in relaxing effort, in letting go. 
So long as we keep growing we are young — 
new cells are being born. We are the chemi- 
cal laboratories of life; and cheerful thoughts 
give inspiration to life's building. 

Age is not measured by revolutions on the 
sundial. It is measured by the growth of 
the spirit, by the acceptance of new ideas. 
It may be the watching for a new flower each 
morning, or a new note in the song-bird's 
carol, or a new shade in heaven's blue. 

High ideals and lofty purposes, the fre- 

165 



1 66 Growth in Silence 

quent uplift to something better, the happy 
mental attitude, are Nature's rejuvenators. 

Let us admit no false limit to youth. The 
psalmist's lamentation that "the length of 
man's days shall be three score and ten" 
has falsely been taken as Divine prophecy, 
instead of the wailings of a man who was 
suffering. Yet this lament has been the 
measure of life for many a man. 

There is negation in talking, in thinking 
death. Every emotion has its corresponding 
chemical activity. There is positive growth 
in thoughts of life. There is stimulation to 
growth in joy and happiness. 

We forget that Christ came with "I have 
come that ye might have life and life 
more abundantly. " We no longer build our 
churches in cemeteries. 

Let us live longer by living more fully, 
more richly each day — richly because of richer 
thinking and more efficient doing. Finer 
thinking means finer power. 

Let us keep the negatives out of mind if 
we would live longer. Let us learn to love 



Measure of Age 167 

constructive thoughts, to keep love as our 
healing agent, learn to flood our conscious- 
ness with the good and the true and the 
beautiful. 

We kiss the bruised fingers of our little 
ones and the love atmosphere evidently 
heals. There is truth in this habit — vital 
truth. 

We will be younger, stronger, better next 
week, next year, because our minds are build- 
ing better every day. Why dread the years 
when they are accumulating such a fund of 
rich experiences? 

At fifty and sixty the children are reared 
and one is ready to enjoy the children's 
children, without the attendant care that 
comes to the parent. Freed from these 
cares the woman manages her household with 
ease, and is ready to reach out into broader 
fields of usefulness, to work for the public 
housekeeping, the public good. The father 
is freed, to an extent, of financial strain. He 
has time to look about him. 

Woman rejuvenates her face and figure, if 



1 68 Growth in Silence 

she has neglected them; the bloom of the 
Indian summer is in her appearance. She is 
free to enjoy outdoor sports and she has more 
time for the good comradeship of husband 
and family. 

In ceasing to be the working housekeeper 
and the working mother, she finds broader 
opportunities to make herself felt in the hearts 
of those about her and to develop thoughts 
of universal motherhood. There is leisure 
now to cultivate the happy habit, to rear 
flowers in the sunshine of Love. 

As children leave the home shelter for the 
protection of love and homes of their own, 
Nature beckons her out of doors to learn new 
songs, to find new beauty in flowers and 
fruit. She sees life without its turmoil. 



Life after Death 

One great aging factor in the past 

has been the fear of death. Death ? la x4 

Death 

There is no death. There is some- 
thing within us that never dies. The physical 
body which has bound us to earth while we 
were developing here lets go its hold, but the 
thought, the agent of the spirit, is simply 
freed. 

How do I know? I know with that sixth 
sense, with the woman's reason — " Because. " 
May not woman's " Because" be spiritual 
understanding? 

It is a privilege to develop the soul while in 
the body. It must be a still more glorious 
privilege to go on developing without the 
limitations of the physical. 

No force in Nature is lost. Plants grow, 
blossom, and decay. Every particle of the 
decayed substance is used again; the car- 
bonic acid gas passes off to feed other plant 

169 



170 Growth in Silence 

life, while the mineral substance is used by the 
earth in producing soil and in feeding other 
growth, as with the body when the spirit has 
deserted it* If wood be burned, the gases 
pass off more rapidly and the rapid com- 
bustion creates heat and energy. If these 
pass off very rapidly, light is created. All 
these are simply forces changing form. 

Everything in Nature is in constant use. 
A pile of decaying vegetation creates heat 
by means of the chemical action of the gases 
in escaping. 

Think you that this eternal law, this con- 
servation of energy, does not apply to the 
spiritual world, as well as to the material? 
Is it possible to conceive that the greatest of 
all forces, one that controls the body, gives it 
life, and leaves it powerless at the change that 
we call death — the soul — can ever be lost? 

" Render unto Caesar the things which are 
Caesar's and unto God the things which are 
God's. " 

"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust." "The 
spirit returns to the God who gave it. " 



Life after Death 171 

The spirit growing — expanding — bursts its 
bonds. 

Does it go far from its past environment? 
Who shall say? If it lives in a medium all 
its own, is it possible for it to impress itself 
on other spirits, or to give a part of its fire 
through this same medium? 

The belief that the liberated spirit still 
influences spirits in the body is gaining 
ground. We were once taught that the spirit 
went to " heaven' ' — some mystical place 
which we located above us. 

That the spirits of loved ones linger near, 
that we feel their influence, that they do not 
lose their individuality but continue to de- 
velop, is as reasonable a belief as that they 
go to some mystical heaven far away. 

Many on this plane have firmly felt that 
they have communicated with those who have 
passed on. Who can say this may not be so? 

No matter where they go, since all physical 
life has been demonstrated as eternal, is it 
not logical to believe that the spirit is eternal 
and that this life continues? 



172 Growth in Silence 

The thought that Christ rose from earth 
and appeared to his disciples has influenced 
the world for two thousand years. 

Why not accept unreservedly the belief 
that life once begun is never ended? Cycles 
of progress await the spirit on this plane or in 
other spheres of activity. 

The fear of death is one of the greatest 
restraints to life, to growth. We do not realize 
how our lives are hampered by fear of it. 

Shakespeare says : "He who cuts off twenty 
years of life, cuts off so many years of 
fearing death. Grant that, and then is death 
a benefit, etc. " 

If the spirits linger near, it is pleasant to 
feel that they are ever helping and impress- 
ing for good those whose lives were knitted 
to theirs in the past. They may or may not 
commune, so that we can see or hear or know 
with the physical senses, but have we not all, 
in some receptive mood, when lifted above 
the petty cares of the day, felt a sweet in- 
fluence pervading the very air? Let it be the 
individual spirit of father, mother, or friend; 



Life after Death 173 

let it be the love and influence of all spirits, 
the choir invisible; or call it the creative 
Force we name God, it is felt and known — 
not with the knowledge of the senses, but 
with the knowledge of another sense — spirit- 
ual understanding. 

We know not where we shall go, but we 
know that Christ said, "I am the Way, " 
and that he would prepare no mean place for 
those who follow in his footsteps of Love 
and Light and Truth and Beauty. He knew 
no harm — his whole life was love and trust. 
He who was all kindness knew that the 
soul's growth is freedom. 

Love and light are the eternal forces and 
it is in their atmosphere, only, that we can 
grow. Growth is life and life is growth, so 
love must be an abiding quality, as it is the 
heart relief, the soul comfort. 

Love being the strongest force of life, con- 
trolling all when not struggling with the 
cares of the physical forces, may it not be 
that, when relaxed and at rest, we are sur- 
rounded with the bond, the united love 



174 Growth in Silence 

force' of all who have been freed from the 
flesh. 

Rarely does one member of a family leave 
the physical life, that others do not shortly 
follow. May it be that the spiritual tie is 
so strong that it is not wholly severed and 
draws others unto self? May not this love 
be the food, the nourishment for soul growth? 

Realize that there is a great and mighty 
force working through all human life, as 
powerful as the force of light, as powerful 
as the rays of heat, as powerful as the ether 
which conveys thought by means of the 
Marconi system, and that this force works 
in accordance with fixed laws. Conscious- 
ness of love is the reward of putting oneself 
in harmony with this law, and the effects of 
hatred, anger, jealousy, etc., on the physical, 
are the penalty of disobeying the law. 

This power works through man, as surely 
as do the chemical forces of Nature. It is 
shaping his thoughts, it is directing his pur- 
poses, is leading him on. It is building for 
better. 



Life after Death 175 

Science, until the past few years, has 
recognized only five senses, hearing, seeing, 
smelling, touching, tasting. It was hinted 
that there might be a sixth sense, but those 
who dwelt on this thought were termed 
visionary. Yet each is conscious of a knowl- 
edge of things not explained by the five 
senses. 

A few years ago nothing was known of the 
existence of ether, the element in the air 
which conveys thought by vibrations. Mar- 
coni utilized this law and demonstrated be- 
yond question that vibrations are carried 
through the air hundreds of miles beyond the 
sound waves; hundreds of miles beyond the 
senses of smell, sight, or touch. 

We cannot see, hear, smell, or feel the law 
which makes an apple fall from a tree to the 
earth, instead of going off into space or falling 
toward the sun, yet we know that the law of 
gravitation draws all things toward the earth. 

We cannot tell why we are instinctively 
drawn toward some people, while others 
repel us; we do not know why a child, before 



176 Growth in Silence 

it can reason, intuitively goes to one person 
and draws away from another. We do not 
know why we feel uncomfortable in the pres- 
ence of some and relaxed and at ease with 
others. 

Some experimenters claim to have regis- 
tered thought waves. This may be possible; 
we cannot define either the limitations of 
acute senses or of the skilled mechanician. 
Much that has been termed mystical is being 
cleared up and now recognized as fact. 

There is a happy mean, between those who 
believe so strongly in spirit control that their 
faces and their attitude take on a mystical 
appearance, and those who arrogantly hold 
themselves superior to anything that cannot 
be explained by the five senses. 

One possessing a small, hard, narrow 
nature, who scoffs at idealization and prides 
himself on being * ' practical, " on dealing 
with material things only, is saved much 
sorrow, yet such a nature gives little to the 
world. 

These practical, self-satisfied natures may 



Life after Death 177 

not pause to remember how often the physi- 
cal senses deceive them, how often the organs 
of sight, taste, and hearing lead astray. 

Does it not show greater wisdom to realize 
that we are under the laws of an all-pervading 
force shaping the universe? We cannot tell 
whence these forces come nor limit their 
power, but so far as we can understand the 
laws of the spirit force from their effect on our 
thoughts and on our physical natures, we can 
put ourselves in harmony by obeying them. 

The man who has thought much, studied 
much, weighed all sides of the question, has 
the courage to say, "I do not know." 

How much mental and physical effort we 
continuously put forth to understand and 
create in the material world and how little 
time we spend in a receptive attitude com- 
prehending the spiritual ! Eight hours a day 
are given to life's physical activities, eight 
hours to sleep, and eight hours preparing for 
the physical work, caring for the body, or 
seeking pleasure. Little time is given to the 
development of the spiritual nature or to 

12 



178 Growth in Silence 

listening to the "wee sma' " voice — listening 
with soul, not ear. The recreation of soul to 
soul communion gives balance for material 
contact. 

In the activities of earlier life, various 
passions strive for ascendency. In the relax- 
ation of later life, love and peace prevail — 
not man's will but God's love more surely 
rules. Is this harmony with the Divine, 
the state of the spirit, after death? Then 
in this atmosphere of peace, 



Death, where is thy sting? 
O Grave, where is thy victory? 



M 



" Why seek ye the living among the dead?" 



Naught to Fear 

Let us consider what it is to feel 

we have no outrages or evil to Naught 

to Fear 
resent, no slight to overlook. What 

a precious freedom, what a shedding of fet- 
ters! Naught to fear more than the clear, 
blue sky overhead, the gracious impartial sun- 
shine, and the loving omnipresence of God. 
Such revised manner of thinking must revise 
the manner of breathing — must revise the 
heart pulses and the manner of the blood's 
circulating — must revise the entire physi- 
cal expression of the Divine idea of Good. 
"Such a belief in Good must be a transition 
from the inharmony of chaos to the harmony 
of heaven and must bring a fullness, a rich- 
ness of life — life — life — Life which is crowd- 
ing the earth, the air, the ocean for standing 
room!" It is bursting from every seed pod 
and springing from every sea shell. 

To lose all selfishness, all self-interest, to 

179 



180 Growth in Silence 

let go all dogma, all preconceived beliefs, not 
consistent with our present status of growth, 
to open the soul is the only life of power; 
we must be ready to say: "Here am I, Lord, 
send me" — not with a broken, contrite 
spirit, but with voice and heart, mind and 
body strong and free and willing, unreserved 
and wholehearted. 

The Whole import of life is expressed in 
Jacob's command to Joseph: 

"Go forth, I pray thee, and see how it fares 
with thy brethren and return to me. " 

"Go forth, and return to me. " As you go 
forth to see how it fares with others, your 
ideals are broadened, your mind takes note 
of other thoughts and is quickened and 
expanded; your heart gives out to those less 
fortunate and your growth comes in propor- 
tion. You realize your companionship with 
right and truth. This very feeling of com- 
panionship gives warmth and light. Ah, the 
beautiful laws of the unseen ! 

Do not forget the individual message to 
each of us — 



Naught to Fear 181 

"Go forth and return to me. " 

Whether we will or not, we go forth and 
return. What message shall we take home? 
Have we helped our brethren in the develop- 
ment of life? Have we shown them its 
beauties? Have we helped them to see the 
truth and the beauty and the purity of life? 
If not, why? 



Live up to Our Noblest Ideals 

Let us live up to our noblest 
to Our ideals, and with mind and spirit 
Noblest fixed upon a high purpose, the little 

In °?j1q 

worries of life will merge into greater 
thoughts. Let us keep our hearts pure, our 
aspirations high, and let no night envelop us 
in silence until every unkind thought, every 
wrong impulse, has been mellowed and 
dispelled. 

Let no sun set which does not bless some 
kindly act, some helpful thought, some un- 
selfish work. 

Let us cultivate a serene mental poise 
and remember that by being sweet, whole- 
some, and true we add to the sweetness and 
to the beauty of the universe. 

Let us not lose sight of our possibilities — 

remember that the great oak is enfolded in 

the acorn. ^ 

182 



Live up to Our Noblest Ideals 183 

We pass through this world but once — we 
have but one opportunity for helpfulness and 
kindness. Let us not neglect the oppor- 
tunity to fill each day with gladness for some 
fellow traveler. 

So shall we leave an impress on the lives 
about us which shall tell in generations yet 
to come — "so shall we join the choir in- 
visible, whose music is the gladness of the 
world." 

Longum illud ternpus, quum non ero, 
tnagis me movet, quam hoc exiguum. — Cicero. 

May we say with George Eliot : 

O may I join the choir invisible 

Of those immortal dead who live again 

In minds made better by their presence; live 

In pulses stirred to generosity; 

In deeds of daring rectitude, in scorn 

For miserable aims that end with self, 

In thoughts sublime that pierce the night like 

stars, 
And with their mild persistence urge man's 

search 
To vaster issues. 

So to live is heaven; 
To make undying music in the world, 



1 84 Growth in Silence 

Breathing as beauteous order that controls 

With growing sway the growing life of man. 

So we inherit that sweet purity 

For which we struggled, failed and agonized, 

With widening retrospect that bred despair. 

Rebellious flesh that would not be subdued, 

A vicious parent shaming still its child 

Poor, anxious penitence, is quick dissolved; 

Its discords, quenched by meeting harmonies, 

Die in the large and charitable air. 

And all our rarer, better, truer self, 

That sobbed religiously in yearning song, 

That watched to ease the burden of the world, 

Laboriously tracing what must be, 

And what may yet be better — saw within 

A worthier image for the sanctuary, 

And shaped it forth before the multitude 

Divinely human, raising worship so 

To higher reverence more mixed with love — 

That better self shall live till human Time 

Shall fold its eyelids, and the human sky 

Be gathered like a scroll within the tomb, 

Unread forever. 

This is life to come, 
Which martyred men have made more glorious 
For us who strive to follow. May I reach 
That purest heaven, be to other souls 
The cup of strength in some great agony, 
Enkindle generous ardor, feed pure love, 
Beget the smiles that have no cruelty — 



Live up to Our Noblest Ideals 185 

Be the sweet presence of a good diffused, 
And in diffusion ever more intense. 
So shall I join the choir invisible 
Whose music is the gladness of the world. 



THE END 



What to Eat and When 



By 

Susanna Cocroft 

Tells all about the problem of nutrition, and the 
importance of proper foods; the purposes of 
foods, food elements, their classification and the 
chemistry of foods. It tells about beverages and 
condiments ; poisoning from food, the preserva- 
tion and adulteration of foods ; heat and energy 
from foods ; the repair and elimination of waste ; 
conditions affecting and factors influencing di- 
gestion, such as season and climate, age, habit of eating, 
frequency of meals, effect of exercise and breathing, ven- 
tilation, fatigue, sleep, influence of the mind, and effect of 
circulation. It contains suggestions on cooking and 
treats fully the extremely important question of 
food requirements of the system, giving numerous 
tables of varied rations and a number of diets, accord- 
ing to occupation and to conditions, such as stomach, 
intestinal, and kidney derangements, nervous disorders and 
skin diseases, rheumatism, leanness, obesity, and conva- 
lescence. There are recipes for invalids and semi- 
invalids, instructions for infant feeding, and useful 
tables of measures and weights. 



G. P. Putnam's Sons 

New York London 



The 
Woman Worth While 

By 

Susanna Cocroft 

Tells why a woman should make the most possi- 
ble of herself and how she can do it. It tells how 
character is expressed in the body and in the face ; 
how woman is a power in the world ; about the refine- 
ment of beauty and the duty of every woman to be 
attractive ; how health and happiness are duties ; 
how life should be simplified to have time for happi- 
ness; how the spiritual should be kept above the 
physical ; and about the power of suggestion. It 
tells about the woman in business ; about arising to 
opportunities; how each individual must prove 
herself ; how to control the financial condition, suc- 
cess being attained by thought and by mental and 
physical activity, health being a requisite ; about 
the belief in self, and the mental attitude of abun- 
dance. It discusses the successful life for a 
woman : her highest calling ; the relation between 
mind and body ; how thought changes the muscles, the 
face and figure, and the brain ; and the importance 
of pleasant thoughts ; of training the thoughts in 
healthy habits ; character building — character 
the thoughts of the past sunk into the brain ; the 
ideal woman in the home ; the inspiration of her 
family* 



G. P. Putnam's Sons 

New York London 



Let's Be Healthy in 
Mind and Body 

By 

Susanna Cocroft 

Tells how to build and retain health. Physical 
efficiency is simply constant normal action of the 
several parts of the body in a harmonious and 
concerted plan. Health is largely a matter of using 
intelligence in forming correct habits of eating, 
drinking, bathing, breathing, resting, and regu- 
lar exercise. It tells how the body is made ; it describes 
the digestive canal, the kidneys, the circulatory 
system, the lungs and respiratory system, the 
nervous system and the derangements of all of these. 
It tells about heat, cold, and proper bathing; 
about the feet and their care ; the importance of habit, 
and the necessity of replacing bad habits with good 
ones ; of cultivating an optimistic frame of mind. 
It shows how under right conditions the body will 
direct the work of wasting and rebuilding automati- 
cally, leaving the mind and spirit free for 
development and direction. 

G. P. Putnam's Sons 

New York London 



■ISSfiST. 0F CONGRESS 



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